Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
by PrairieRose1017
Summary: Welcome back to Canary Corner! But wait! I lied! This is BEFORE anything happened to our adventerous couple! This is before it all, and allow me to enlighten you all in the ways of our favaorite canaries first...lots of stuff  NOTHING DIRTY!
1. Chapter 1: New Life

**I know you all thought I was dead for a while, but here I am, PrairieRose1017, back with another Rio Triumph! This story is sort of like a prequal to my other three, but it really _DOES _matter if you read this one first if you haven't read the other ones! There will be spoilers GALORE! lol **

**But to all of my people who have read the other ones, this will be a welcome informationaly packed story on how Nico and Sonora first met, and a whole bunch of thier other firsts *que evil smile and maniacle laughter* I'l try really hard not to go crazy super mushy in all of the chapters, because we all know that that gets annoying over time. XD But yes this will be good, adn yes I hope you will love it! **

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><p><strong>Sunshine<strong>** on a ****Cloudy**** Day**

**Chapter 1**

**New Life**

"Come on Nico! I swear you fly like we have all the time in the world!" Pedro called over his shoulder to me.

"I'm flying faster than you are; you're just in the updraft!" I panted and was finally able to set my wings to use the warm air and stop flapping for a minute.

"I'm so excited for this! You're gonna love everybody! And the music! And you'll have to perform…" Pedro was acting very…how to put it…hyperactive today and it was really starting to get annoying.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Pedro I can't perform." I told my round, red-crested Cardinal brother. Ok he wasn't my blood brother, but he might as well be.

"We'll see about that." A creepy little smile came to the cardinal's beak.

"Dude you look like the crypt keeper." I shivered and shoved him over to make the freaky smile go away.

"Hey boys!" A huge toco toucan soared down to us and smiled brightly on his colorful beak.

"Ralphy! Bout time you showed up!" We shared a special wing shake with the big black and white bird as we left the jungle and soared over the city.

"Actually Sonny sent me. She's been at The Branch since it opened with Josie and Patty. She's on a roll tonight and was still singing when I left." Rafael smiled.

"I know whatcha mean. Pedro's been going crazy since we left the hollow." I explained. "I'm pretty excited myself."

"Not near as excited as Sonny. She and Pedro have been…" The toucan trailed off as Pedro shot him a shut-up look.

"What?" I asked confused. "Pedro you didn't make a big deal out of this just because it's my birthday, did you?" Pedro always did that. Just because I was leaving that stupid academy after a scrap with a dumb hyacinth macaw named Phillip, he thought it was Carnival or something.

"Maybe…" My friends chorused. I sighed.

"Come on guys! I don't wanna look like a preener!" I told them. Great, now my first impression on my new classmates would be an attention hog.

"You won't! Everybody helped and it's all perfect! This is gonna be the best eighteenth birthday ever!" Pedro said as we landed at the end of the fruit market.

"Is this it?" I asked feeling the back beat of the music flow through the concrete, up through my toes, and into my feathers.

"Nico, my brother, welcome to The Branch." Rafael and Pedro swept back the tarp and my beak fell open. The music crashed over me in a warm, melodic wave. Tons of birds were dancing around and cheering at the performer on the stage. I didn't realize it, but in the next few minutes, my life, would change forever.

"Holy feathers!" I gasped.

"See? I told you! Isn't this the **COOLEST** thing ever?" Pedro crowed and zoomed into the air. Then something across the room caught his attention and he waved. "Come on! Sonny and the girls are over here!" We met the cardinal in the air and followed him over to a well-lit corner. I was starting to get insanely curious about this Sonny bird; she seemed to be very special.

"Pedro! There you are!" We landed and a yellow blur shot forward and shared a wing-bump with my brother. I couldn't see who she was though, because the round grey bird was standing just right to where I couldn't. "What took you so long?" Her voice was strong and lyrical to say the least. I wanted to move so I could catch a glance at what she looked like, but there were just too many birds around for me to move.

"I was getting' the birthday boy." Finally Pedro stepped aside, and again my jaw dropped open. Standing there with the sweetest smile on her face was an angelic female canary. The colorful splotches of light from the disco ball danced across her sunny yellow feathers and she carried herself with total confidence. Her eyes…Wow her eyes! They were light meadow green and shone with glee.

"Nico?" Pedro elbowed me and I came out of my stupor.

"Oh…Yeah…" I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. "I'm Nico." I reached out a wing for her to shake and remembered what Pedro told me before we left. _You gotta show these girls your suave side. They'll just melt in your wings, cause you got some good stuff. _So, as she took my wing, I gripped it and spun her towards me and dipped her slightly. "And who are you?" I put on a flirtatious smirk on my face as I asked her this.

She seemed pleasantly surprised and returned my smile with one of her own that made my heart flutter. "Sonora," I spun her back out and she posed at the furthest reach of my wing. "Call me Sonny." But as she said the second part she spun back to me and preformed one of the many tango poses; this one with her one leg wrapped around my hips and my face held gently in her wings. I just placed my wings on her back so she didn't fall, but I was blushing so hard, and shaking, from the pounding of my heart, that I'm sure I looked like an orange in an earthquake.

_Wow!_ I thought to myself, _these west-side girls are the definition of Hot Wings! _I grew up on the east side with my parents, before…well, we'll get to that later. After I got "removed" from the dance academy, not three days ago, I had moved in with Pedro and his family. Ever since then Pedro had been coaching me for this night. It was annoying at times, but I see now that it came in handy.

Sonora hopped back with a slight blush on her cheeks, and a spark of…I swear it was hope, in her sweet green eyes. "Take it easy there hot wing!" Pedro scolded her after he and Raphael closed their beaks. "Nico's fresh off the east side. He's not used to your…style."

"Uh-huh." She rolled her eyes then looked back at me. "You sure show some poise for an east side preener." She flipped a few stray feathers back behind her head and shot me a wink. "I didn't offend you did I?" She asked seriously, as I just stood there as though I had no brain.

"No, not at all." I replied and smiled dumbly. I was still in utter shock from the seemingly magical moment just seconds ago.

"You don't seem like an academy boy to me." A pretty Scarlet macaw stepped up to Sonny's right and a little blue flycatcher with black feathers around her eyes, to her left.

"I would have to agree, Josie. Although you seem to show more manners than most of our boys." And both girls shot a look at my red-crested cardinal friend.

"What, I can't flirt with you lovely ladies and still be a good boy?" Pedro teased and walked over to them. "Now for the proper intro," He paused and linked his wing with the flycatcher, "This cerulean wonder is Patrice, but we all call her Patty."

"Ooooo! Big words Pedro! You do pay attention in Composition!" Patty cooed sarcastically. My brother just rolled his brown eyes and flourished his wings at the macaw.

"And this rainbow of a Spanish beauty is Josephine."

"Me apodo Josie." She said in a perfect accent and blushed as she realized it was in Spanish. "Call me Josie." She looked back at her friends and they nodded. "I just moved here from El Salvador, and am still working on your language."

"No problema, señorita. Me entienda perfectamente (Not a problem miss. I understand perfectly)." I said and she smiled broadly and nodded.

"Dude? You can speak Spanish?" Rafael asked, highly impressed.

"Yeah, just one of my many talents." I joked while blowing on the tips of my flight feathers and rubbing them against my shoulder as everyone laughed. My eyes flitted back to Sonny for a moment and I just stared; she was so much different than any girls I had met before, and I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Then she turned her eyes to me and I looked away quickly. I caught her warm smile though and started to feel all tingly.

"Oh my! Who might you be sunshine?" A new voice joined us from behind me. It was very high pitched, a touch nasal, and reminded me of those…what do the Americans call them? Oh yeah! Southern belles! That's what she sounded like. I turned to see who owned the voice, and before me was a bright rainbow lorikeet. Her colors stood out in bright patches, and upon first glance I saw her as pretty. But there was something about the way my friends stiffened and the way she carried herself that bothered me.

"I…I'm Nico." I stuttered. I didn't extend a wing to shake, I couldn't even smile; this situation was too weird for any of that. The lori just beamed and opened her beak to speak again.

"Honey, you're already concerning yourself with birds that aren't worth your time." She told me over-sweetly.

"Alright Ana, we get it, you were an east side preener too. You can go now." Patty hopped next to me and glared at the lori.

"Patrice! Don't you look just as lovely as ever, sugar?" Ana said again in that same voice that made me cringe inwardly now.

"Like Patty said, buzz off." Josie joined me on the other side. She hesitated but was able to spit out the words in an angry tone. I shot her a small smile, but she was too offended by the lorikeet's presence to notice.

"Josephine! Bless my soul! I haven't seen you in ages! Seems I never get to have a decent conversation with you without that little Sonora around." Now she was starting to get annoying, and I really wanted to leave.

"You know I'm right here." Sonny flew over my head, and finally broke the lori's fake smile. I could tell by the way the club paused, my friends stepped back, and how Sonora stood with her shoulders squared and chin up that this was going to end badly.

"Hello." Ana snipped. "Seems you've added another poor soul to your raggle-taggle band. Too bad, he's a cutie." I turned bright red, and wanted so badly to dive under Rafael's huge black wing to hide, as she blew me a kiss.

"What do you want?" Sonora placed a wing on her hip and a venomous glare on her face as she spoke.

"I only wanted to remind your little west side…posse…that they have one last chance to realize that they could do so much better with the company that they keep." The poison in her tone made even me feel sick. Then I noticed that Sonny was fluffed up to twice her size and her pretty yellow feathers were turning orange.

"Now girls," Rafael flew up to each of them in turn and smiled, "It's Friday Night, we're all worn out after a long week, and all we want to do is party…" His attempt to cut the tension did nothing, and he slowly stepped back as the girls continued to glare daggers at each other. I looked at Pedro, whose eyes were wide open and a scared look lingered there as he fished for a way to stop the impending fight, should one of the girls speak again. Suddenly his face lit up and he and Rafael had the same thought.

"SONG AND DANCE BATTLE!" They called and the tension diminished a smidge as the uneasy club goers cheered their approval.

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><p><strong>REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW (continues chanting until you press little button just benieth these words)! REVIEW!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: The Battle at The Branch

**Chapter 2**

**The Battle at The Branch**

"Ah! My area of expertise." Ana sighed and ruffled her feathers in an overly self-confident way.

"Bring it on!" Sonny growled her attractive green eyes still narrowed.

"And just for that I go first."

"Please, anything for you, princess." Sonora bowed deeply at the waist and spread her wings wide as she did so. Ana huffed and pouted for a moment, then flew up to the stage. There was a lull and a few other girls joined her there, and the lights dimmed. The beat started and with each blare of the steel guitar the lights flared and each of the performers were in a pose. After about ten seconds the lights turned on and Ana walked to the front of the stage quickly, over exaggerating her hips as she sang.

"_Everything tells me it's so hard to make it. It's so hard to break in, there's no way to fake it. Everybody tells me that it's wrong what I'm feelin'. I shouldn't believe in the dreams I been dreamin'." _She pumped her wing out to the crowd and turned away as a Blue Crowned Trogon stepped forward to sing the next part.

"_I hear it every day, I hear it all the time. I'm never gonna amount to much, but their never gonna change my mind! Oh!" _Then a Turquoise-Fronted Amazon joined the other two and belted into the auto-tuned chorus.

"_Tell me, tell me, tell me somethin' I don't know, somethin' I don't know, somethin' I don't know! Tell me, tell me, tell me somethin' I don't know, somethin' I don't know, somethin' I don't know!" _

Ana stepped forward again and blew me another kiss, much to my mortification. Sonny, Patty, and Josie all rolled their eyes and scoffed. _"How many inches in a mile, what it takes to make you smile,"_ she turned a glare to Sonora, _"Getcha not to treat me like a child, baby!"_ And back to the repetitive chorus. This music was just too auto-tuned and blarey for my liking, and I think the crowd agreed.

The Trogon returned and semi-rapped the next few lines, _"So here's the track, like Katrina make you work like a machine and make 'em say 'I'm ready!' Are you ready for it?"_

"_Yeah I'm ready for it." _ Ana replied.

"_Are you ready for it?"_

"_Yeah I'm ready for it!" _ Then all three. _"Let's get ready for it! I'm on my way I know I'm gonna get there someday. It doesn't help when you say it won't be easy!" _Ana sang through the chorus on stage, but as they finished she flew down to me and danced around me, running her flight feathers across my cheeks and shoulders.

"_How many inches in a mile, what it takes to make you smile; Getcha not to treat me like a child, baby!"_ I stepped back in shock as she leaned forward to _kiss _me and she tripped (Sonora thought I didn't see her claw between us, but I did). The girls on the stage continued the song as she pouted for a moment, but she soon joined them to finish. The music droned out and the crowd cheered respectfully.

"Top that Sundrop." Ana landed in front of the girls with a smug grin on her beak.

"Oh we'll _strut _aaaalllll over that performance!" The sparky canary snapped her feathers, turned on her heel, and flared her pretty little tail as she soared up to the stage. The lights dimmed and slowly changing colored spotlights bathed the stage in rich hues. Suddenly a Spanish guitar began to strum and Sonora appeared on center stage. _"You can breathe in the music this city makes."_

Then Patty appeared to her left. _"Moved by the rhythm the gypsies play."_

And Josie to the right using her strong Spanish accent to get in the feel of the words, _"Deep inside it comes alive."_

Back to Sonny, to continue with the rotation, as the red, orange, and yellow lights beamed. _"There's a whisper that feed your soul."_

"_Words so beautiful, like a Spanish rose."_

"'_Til you're hypnotized that's when you've arrived…" _The girls turned to each other and smiled as the soft music stopped and the colored lights gave way to white lights. Then a steel guitar joined the Spanish guitar, and the beat jumped dramatically. The girls flew around until it was time to sing.

They hit the stage simultaneously and burst into the chorus, _"You gotta strut like you mean it, free your mind! It's not enough just to dream it; come on come on, get up!" _They leapt into the air and half of the crowd, Pedro, Rafael, and I included, jumped up with them. _"When you feel it it's your chance to shine! Strut like you mean it! Come on, come on, come on! Yeah!" _again they jumped and Sonny stepped forward, dancing with incredible beat, as Patty and Josie danced next to her.

"_Pounding the pavement, flappin' through the streets to wonder like __Coelho in the Ipanima heat!" _ She stepped back and Patty took center stage.

"_Passion is the fashion, and life is poetry. Welcome to another world where any heart can beat!" _ The little, iridescent blue flycatcher shot me a friendly smile. Then it was back to all three.

"_Get a different tempo, there's never a wrong one. (Sonny) Never a wrong one! (All 3) Building to a crescendo; you know the journey's just begun!" _The canary drew out the last line while the Macaw and flycatcher carried on into the chorus. Sonny had a wonderful singing voice, and she loved to show it off; I could just tell. _"You gotta strut like you mean it! Free your mind! It's not enough just to dream it; come on, come on, get up!" _

This time the whole club, minus Ana, jumped into the air with them, pumping their wings to the sky and cheering like crazy-birds. There was a lyrical pause as the music boomed through the speakers. I was having a blast, along with the fact that I couldn't take my eyes off of Sonora. She was so passionate with the music, it was like the rhythm was part of her.

Just as the melody started to tone down, Sonny turned to me and motioned for me to join her on stage. I just shook my head and looked away abashedly.

"Dude! Get your tail-feathers up there!" Pedro elbowed me and I reconsidered it. Thoughts still pending I looked back up to those precious, meadow green eyes and the pleading look I saw there couldn't be denied. So with a happy sigh I flew up to meet her there.

"_Hey feel the flow, when you just can't move no more. This city wants to show you somethin' somethin'" _She sang as I tried to dance along with them and stumbled a bit. She just smiled and took my wing after singing the next part. _"A heart unfolds that you would never know! Ipanima soul, so somethin' somethin' good is comin' comin'. Everybody knows that somethin' good is comin' on!" _

Patty and Josie took the chorus as Sonny and I danced. "Seems you're better with a partner." She told me kindly.

"Generally yes. I need a little work on my solo act." I admitted with a small smile.

"Well, we've got nothin' but time." Another wink and smile as I spun her in. Then she realized that the song was still playing. "Do you know this next part?"

"I just so happen to be an expert." I told her and dipped her lightly.

"Good, then get ready." She stepped back and gave me center stage with a smirk and a twinkle in her eyes. _"When you feel it it's your chance to shine! Strut like you mean it! Come on, come on, come on! You gotta strut!"_

Now it's my turn with the Spanish lyrics. _"Bienvenidos! Esto es mi sueño!"_

The girls continued to sing _"Come on, come on!"_ Between my lines.

"_Siganme para descubranme Ipanima!"_

"_Strut! Come on, Come on!"_

"_Bienvenidos! Esto es mi sueño!"_

"_Come on, come on, come on!"_

"_Siganme para descubranme Ipanima!" _And for the last part all four of us harmonized together. _"Come on, come on, come on!" _ I grabbed Sonny's wing again and spun her in with a jerk and wrapped my wing around her shoulders. Together we posed on the stage as the crowd erupted into cheers. There was almost two full minutes of the deafening screams, in which I couldn't even hear myself think!

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><p><strong>Sorry this is so short. I thought that just putting the songs in one chapter would make a good chapter in and of itself. The next one will be a bit longer, promise. XD<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Hmmm

**Chapter 3**

**Hmmm**

_Take that you stupid lori!_ I thought to myself as the cheering lowered in volume ever so slightly. I was so happy! I was able to shut that stupid little nest-hopper up! Ok, ok. I guess that was a little rude, but she deserves it. She did steal my EX-boyfriend…

I was coming off of my adrenaline high and I realized that my left wing was clinging to something on my right shoulder and my left side felt really warm. I looked over and saw that Nico was holding me closely to his side. My eyes got wide, and I quickly took my wing away from his, and stepped away. There was a part of me that screamed not to move, but it just felt a tad too awkward.

Heck I'd just met the guy; but he did hold me. By hold me, I mean with the tango pose when I introduced myself. That was my secret to figuring out if I could trust a guy. If they held me they were good, ready for the unexpected. If not, if they let me fall, they had a lot to prove before I would let them in. I liked Nico, I really did, and I smiled as he looked at me as I stepped away.

Then I looked over at Patty and Josie, who were practically bursting with joy. I couldn't help but smirk and nod to our corner. Together we flew over to Pedro and Rafael. "Look at you girls!" Pedro caught each one of us and spun us out, all except for Nico who landed by me and twirled me around one more time.

"THAT WAS THE BEST PERFORMANCE **EVER**!" They cheered together. "Seriously! You blew Ana out of the water!" Rafael cried.

"Whatever you say Mr. King of Carnival!" I hugged him. I was so incredibly happy right now!

"And adding in the birthday boy here," Pedro wrapped a wing around Nico and they grinned, "Was genius!"

"Yeah, thanks for that." Nico gave me a warm smile and I couldn't help but feel a warm blush rise to my cheeks. I was feeling a kind of affection after only a few minutes, it was strange. The only other guys I'd felt this way around would have been…_him_… and I didn't want to think about that. So, I shut off any tender feelings, and hardened my heart ever so slightly.

"Well, I hope you're happy with yourself Sonora." Ana flew up to us and had fake tears in her eyes.

"Oh I am. Thank you for asking." I placed my wing on my hip and smiling.

"This isn't over! You'll see! You stupid excuse for a west-side bird!" Then she huffed and flew away. Her words, I knew, were mostly hollow, but they made me shiver nonetheless.

"Creeepy." Pedro whispered and wrapped a wing around me. "You ok?"

"Never been better!" I ruffled my feathers and smiled. Then something hit me. "Oh my goodness! What time is it?" I ran to the door and saw that the moon was up. "I am so screwed!" I breathed and took off.

"Wait Sonny!" Rafael called. I paused for a moment in mid-air. He flew up to me. "Let me fly you home. I'll take the blame."

"You can fly me home, but I'm not letting you take the blame. I'll never get to see you again." I replied and flew forward. Soon we were flying through the dark trees, and sooner than I had hoped we came to my hollow.

"Good luck." The toucan hugged me just outside the door and grinned.

"I'll be fine."

"Hey, if you can, you should try and meet us for lunch tomorrow."

"I will. Even if mom loses her mind. My dad'll cover for me." Then I turned to the door. "Now get out of here!"

"You don't have to tell me twice. See ya 'round!" Ralphy saluted and took off back to The Branch. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Silently I stepped in and closed the door quietly.

"Sonora Marie Canary, do you have any idea what time it is?" Now this question you would think would be coming from my father, who would be seated in his arm chair looking at an old newspaper. Sadly, in my case, I was greeted by my mother. She was great…75% of the time. She let me go out and do stuff, but she HATED when I was out after dark.

"No mom. I'm really sorry. There was a performance battle, and Ana was there, and I met this new guy…"

"A boy?" Her already flaming blue eyes got wider and she hopped over to me. "You think that just because there was a boy involved that gives you an excuse to break curfew?" I started to back slowly down the hallway to my room.

"No mom. He's Pedro's friend and it was his birthday…and I really was going to come home on time, but Ana…"

"Ana means nothing! She's just a bad bird. You didn't get in another fight with her did you?"

"Clarissa, leave the girl alone." And saved by the dad. "She went out to party, on a Friday night, and she had a good time with her friends. So what she was a little late one time. Nothing happened." He came up behind me and wrapped his wings around my shoulders.

"Thanks dad." I whispered and pecked his cheek.

"No problem sweetie."

"Raúl! You know our rules! Sonora is not to be out after dark." My mom stabbed a pointer feather at me.

"It's a beautiful night, and I saw Rafael escort her home. Just calm down and lets all go to bed." With that my dad left me and kissed my mother, leading her into their room. Before he disappeared he shot me a wink and a nod.

I mouthed "Thank you!" and dove into my room. "That went better than expected." I breathed and yawned. My nest was calling to me, begging for me to just flop down and go to sleep. So I quickly splashed some water on my face, took off my anklet, and flopped in the soft bowl of moss, grass, and down feathers.

I ruffled up and snuggled in, running through the night in my mind. I couldn't seem to wrap my mind around the fact that Nico had held me. That pose always freaked guys out, and they thought I was some sort of weirdo. But he had just smiled and handled the situation perfectly. I sighed contentedly, and soon I was drifting off to sleep with the picture of Nico's happy face plastered in my mind's eye.

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><p>"Where is she going?" I asked Pedro as Sonny took off without warning.<p>

"I'll fly her home." Rafael said and followed her out the door and into the jungle.

"I totally forgot about her mom's new curfew!" Pedro slapped his face with his wing.

"She's been going super crazy since Antonio, and the fight with Ana. She hardly lets the poor girl out of the hollow." Patty agreed.

"What?" I was totally confused. Sonny was a spit-fire no doubt about it, but I didn't see her really fighting anybody.

"Well, it's a long story really, and it's not really ours to tell." Josie told me.

"Sonny's mom is SUPER protective. She's super cool, usually, but she doesn't want anything to happen to Sonora."

"She's a tough one, and really her dad has saved her feathers more times than we can count." Pedro added. Then he smiled as I furrowed my brow. "He's the easiest part. Clarissa on the other hand… Good luck there bud." He elbowed me.

"What? Oh no! I…I…I don't want to ask her out or anything…I just met her for feathers-sake." I replied quickly, completely lying.

"Mmmmhmmm." Pedro shrugged his eyebrows and shoved me. "You're not fooling anyone Nico."

"Dude! I just met her!" I exclaimed.

"That doesn't matter. It's obvious that you like her." The cardinal commented, and I blushed.

"OOOOOO! Look! It's true!" Patty teased with a smirk. I tried with all of my might to stop the blushing, but I couldn't, and it only got worse.

"Ok. Fine. She's cute." I stammered.

"Aaaannnddd?" They teased further.

"Well since you guys know so much how about you figure it out?" I snapped and glared at them.

"What'd I miss?" Rafael returned.

"First off, is Sonny still alive?" Josie asked.

"Oh yeah. Saved by Raúl again. Her mom tried to freak out, but he was able to calm her down before she grounded her." The toucan explained.

"That poor girl. She's always worried about making her mom mad." The macaw tisked her tongue.

"She'll be turning 18 in the next few months, and she'll be out of there." Patty added.

"Yeah, but tomorrow she wants to show us the hollow she's been fixing up. We'll go after lunch." Ralphy added.

"Sounds like a plan, but we should all head home now. It's getting late and it seems that the party's dying down." Pedro commented.

"See you guys tomorrow. Right here!" Patty and Josie took off after we stepped out onto the street.

"Kay! See you later!" We waved. The cool night air cleared my mind a bit. The air within the club was starting to get really stuffy, and my mind was spinning. Everything had happened so fast. First off I meet the girl of my dreams, sang and danced with her, then she was gone. It was totally crazy.

"Nico. Nico? NICO!" My friends yelled at me.

"Huh?" I looked up from my wings.

"Told you. He's got it bad." Pedro snickered as he elbowed Ralphy. I rolled my eyes and had to smile.

"I told you earlier, she's cute. AND I just met her."

"_I _told _you_ that that doesn't matter! You already passed her test." My brother wrapped a wing around my shoulders.

"Test? I didn't see any test." I said confusedly.

"You weren't supposed to. That's the point. It's unexpected, sort of a surprise attack." We laughed.

"What was it?" I was incredibly curious now.

"So when you pulled her in to introduce yourself; which was totally awesome, I might add. Imma use that later!" Rafael shouldered me playfully as we took off.

"Yeah! Me too!" Pedro agreed.

"Thanks, I used to joke about doing that with the boys back on the east side. Seems I was able to use it!" We laughed again.

"Anyway, when she introduced herself and pulled the tango pose; that was the test. You held her up and didn't let her fall on her back. That's how she checks if she can trust a guy. It's bold, but so is our Sonny." Rafael finished.

"Yeah. We were pretty shocked too. Sonny's not one to warm up to guys so quickly. You must be special or somethin'." Pedro teased.

"I must be." I grinned and pictured her up there on that stage, big smile on her beak and a gleam in her eyes. I wasn't about to let this opportunity slip through my feathers.

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><p><strong>TEHEHE! I LOVE THIS STORY SOOOOOO MUCH SO FAR! And it seems you guys like it too! Thenx to those of you who have reviewed so far! You make my day so much better when you do!<strong>


	4. Chapter 4: Day off at teh Beach

**Chapter 4**

**Day off at the Beach**

"Woo! No school!" I cried into the breeze, as I flew around with my friends on this bright Monday afternoon. There had been a mishap at the school over the weekend, seems a few east-side students lost a bet or something and had to ransack our school. Truthfully I didn't care, all that meant was three or four days of no classes!

"Dang right sunshine!" Nico flew up to me and we looped around each other. He smiled warmly and playfully bumped my wing so I wobbled in flight.

"What is wrong with you?" I chided and returned the gesture.

"More than you know." He replied and smirked. I rolled my eyes and grinned back. Three weeks had gone by since Nico and I had met, and I was starting to think there was a bit, ok maybe more than a bit, of a spark between us. Not that I minded at all. He was so sweet! After I had gotten over the "I just met the guy" phase and really gotten to know him, he was a great guy! Nico was funny, confident, smooth, and had a voice that made my stomach tie itself in knots. Not to mention he could dance and sing like no bird I'd ever met before.

"Does anyone else want something to eat?" Pedro called joining us.

"Is that all you think about?" Josie teased.

"Only on weekdays, Saturday, and Sunday." The red-capped cardinal replied with a smirk.

"And now we know that Pedro knows his days of the week! You officially cannot claim that you're dumb anymore." Patty joshed.

"Haha. Very funny."

"Alright guys, leave the poor bird alone." Rafael entered the scene. "But I would like to get something to eat." Then he smiled back at the five of us. "Race you to the fruit market!" With that he slammed his huge wings against his sides and zoomed through the air. We were all blown back in the gale of wind. Well except for me; I saw it coming and caught a little updraft and was able to get out of the way of the windstorm my friends were caught in.

Rafael didn't even see me catching up to him as he flew at a fairly leisurely pace for his enormous size. Compared to me, he was a giant, and he thought that alone would let him win. I pumped my wings especially hard when my friends started to cheer me on, and none louder than Nico.

"GO SONNY GOOOOOOO!" He screamed and Rafael looked up to see my little self, shoot over his head and rocket into town.

"Ay Carumba!" Rafael exclaimed and pumped his wings harder, hoping for a chance to catch me. But there was no way he would. I was in a full out dive down the street, and I could see a sort of streamline form around me as I plummeted towards the colorfully topped stalls with crates fully of juicy fruit. I almost crashed into the top of a stall, but flared my wings at the last second and just bounced off the tight tarp and onto another tarp, and another, and another until I came to rest in a crate full of mangos. Shortly after Rafael, Nico, Pedro, Patty and Josie joined me there with excited hoots and hollers.

"¡Que divertido (how fun)!" Josie cried.

"I know! It didn't even occur to me that we could do that until now!" I agreed and looked over at Nico who had landed next to me. He was laughing, but when he saw me looking at him he put on a warm smile that made my heart start to pound.

"Nice flying." He told me.

"Thanks." I blushed and giggled softly.

"So who wants what?" Pedro was flitting back and forth between stalls picking up different fruits. As of right now he had a mountain of the stuff in his wings. Nico chuckled and flew over to him.

"You want some help with that?" The canary asked, and reached for a fruit.

"No! You'll…" Just as Pedro tried to object Nico took an orange from the middle, and the whole tower of fruit collapsed on top of both of them. "Make it fall." We could hear Pedro mumble.

"Nico!" I gasped and ran up to where I had seen him disappear. I tossed aside pieces of fruit until I spotted his sunny yellow feathers. Grabbing his wing and helped him stand.

"Thanks Sonny." He told me kindly and squeezed my wing.

"Not a problem." I replied and didn't let go of his wing.

"You're forgetting Big P here!" The cardinal called from his squished state still under the fruit.

"Sorry!" Nico and I said together and chuckled as we reached to pull him up.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Pedro said pretending to sound offended. Then his face brightened as he spotted a ripe papaya and dove for it. We all burst out laughing as he took a huge bite and juice dribbled down his chin.

We all took our pick and perched on crates to enjoy our lunch. Nico sat next to me and smiled while taking a bite out of the orange pieces he held in his wings. I returned the kind grin and bit into the juicy mango in my wings. I ended up with a trickle of the nectar running down my chin, and Nico scooted closer with a piece of cloth to wipe it away. "Thanks." I giggled and he nodded locking his warm amber brown eyes with mine.

"So what should we do after this?" Patty asked, breaking the moment.

"How about the beach? We haven't been there in forever, and we have the day off." Josie suggested.

"Sounds awesome! I miss going there!" I exclaimed swallowing the last of my mango.

"I've never been to the beach. Everyone at the academy frowned upon it." Nico told me and subconsciously took my wing in his again.

"That's because those birds at the academy frown upon fun." Patty said puffing out her chest and speaking in a funny, stuck-up sounding accent. We all laughed at her acting.

"True that!" Nico said through his laughter. "Let's go!" Everyone was finished and we took to the sky. With smiles on our faces we flew over the buildings and streets until we made it to Ipanima beach. We glided over the carpet of the humans big, colorful, beach umbrellas until we found a nice patch of sand near the ocean, that wasn't covered in human stuff, to land. But we didn't land on the sand though. We dunked ourselves straight in the ocean.

"CANNONBALL!" Pedro and Rafael called and dropped in right after I surfaced. A huge wave swallowed me, and I started tumbling around underwater trying to figure out which way was up. Finally the torrent stopped and I opened my eyes to see Nico in the same position and we started to swim up to the surface together. I broke the surface and threw my head back to get the feathers out of my eyes and gasped for air.

"Wow." Nico breathed as I bobbed in the waves.

"What?" I asked feeling slightly self-conscious.

"Oh nothing. You just took my breath away for a second there." He said in a soft tone while floating next to me.

"Aw stop." I splashed him gently. He sputtered as he swallowed some of the salty water and then splashed me back. "Hey!" I shrieked, and so the war began. We chased each other around and around until I dove back beneath the surface for a moment's peace. I opened my eyes and saw Nico pause. And look around. Then a devilish idea came to my mind. I swam up, grabbed his feet, and dragged him under.

He kicked and struggled but I pulled him further under. Soon he was at my eyes level and I pecked him on the cheek. He gasped, surprised and we both swam to the surface again. "I win!" I told him when we caught our breath.

"Nuh-uh!" Nico shouted.

"Yeah-huh! I drug you under the water; therefore got you the most wet. So I win!"

"Man, it's a good thing you're pretty." He shook his head. "Cause I sure can't beat you at anything!" He smiled and butterflies welled in my stomach as he floated closer. Then another huge wave hit us as Rafael used his wings as huge paddles.

I shot him a "Really?" look and swam for the shore with a sigh. As I stepped on to the sugar sand and shook my feathers to get the water out, though I would have to take another bath again later to get the salt off too. I was soon joined by the rest of my friends and they shook themselves off as well. Then I nodded to a little outcropping of rock so that we could sit and dry out. We flapped over and I settled in a ray of sunshine, and suddenly felt really sleepy.

* * *

><p>"Would you just make your move already?" Pedro scolded me.<p>

"Were you just watching? I tried like three times, and you guys interrupted!" I nearly screamed at them.

"Hey I'm trying to save you. If you walk in to ask her dad if you can take her out on a date and you say that you've already kissed her, that isn't gonna score you points with her dad, and it'll seal off her mom." Rafael replied.

"Yes, because when I walk up to her family I'm gonna shake her dad's wing and say 'Hey, I wanna take your daughter on a date and I just wanna let you know that I've kissed her.' That is exactly the impression I would want to make." I rolled my eyes and stepped forward to follow the girls to their perch on the rock.

"No, that's not what I'm saying." Rafael huffed.

"What he means is you need to wait. Sonny won't like it either." Pedro concluded.

"Sure looked like she was going to like it there for a second." I rolled my eyes and watched Sonny settle down in a patch of sunshine. Her feathers glowed as she stretched, and yawned all fluffed up. I smiled and my eyes softened as I looked at her. I didn't care how short of a time it had been, there was something about her that I knew I just couldn't live without. So carefully I walked up to Sonora and sat next to her. "Hey there beautiful." I crooned.

"Oh Nico." She jumped a bit, but smiled as I sat down. "There you are."

"Here I am." I felt my heart start to pound as she giggled.

"I'm so glad that we get a few days off. I just am not in the mood for going to school, you know?" She scooted closer to me and laid her head on my shoulder.

"Yeah. Although school here is so much better than on the east side. WAAAAY easier." I chuckled, and rested my head on hers.

"I bet. I wouldn't have been able to survive there." She joked.

"Ha! You are so smart! You would have blown all those other birds out of the water!" I sat up and made her look at me as I said this.

"Hmm. Sure." She sighed.

"Really!" I smiled brightly and it turned out to be infectious. Then all of the sudden, as I was getting lost in her eyes, a loud pop sounded from where the closest human was seated and some sort of UFO zoomed over our heads and created a creator in the sand. Together we flew over to investigate.

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><p><strong>GASP! What could the UFO be? XD Bet you know!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5: Bottle Caps and Bold Moves

**Hey guys! I'm here to tell you that if you read this chapter before, I made a few changes, and it's a little smoother now. Thanx for reading!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

**Bottle Caps and Brave Moves**

"What the heck was that?" I wondered aloud and landed by the crater, Nico by my side.

"Some weird human thing that tried to kill us." Nico replied and I rolled my eyes at him. He smiled and I blushed; go figure. I swear everything the guy said was gold, and it was starting to drive me nuts! Why all of the sudden did this one bird make my world seem so much brighter? Maybe it was…no. I said that once and it ruined everything.

"Que es eso?" Josie asked fluttering over with the rest of our group in tow. I stepped down into the little ditch and started to dig at the sand to resurrect the human thing. Soon enough I scratched my wing against something hard and grabbed hold of the sharp, ridged edge.

"A bottle cap?" Pedro asked as I dusted it off and twirled it around on my flight feathers. It was teal green, with ocean blue wavy lines across the top. The edges were worn down, so they weren't very sharp, and as I brushed off the sand I got a brilliant idea. I started tapping it like a tambourine, and, to my great pleasure, it made a little shaking sound.

"Hey! That's perfect!" Ralphy exclaimed and smiled broadly, as I danced around a little bit shaking the little thing and laughing.

"I know!" I used it to tap my chin thoughtfully. Then I smiled at Josie and Patty and they flew behind me, as though we had a special telepathic link. I thought of the rhythm of the song and started out with the spoken words. _"If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I've already won that. No man is worth the aggravation; that's ancient history. Been there, done that." _

Patty and Josie take up the chorus part, just like we've practiced. _"Who you think you kiddin' he's the earth and heaven to ya. Try to keep it hidden, honey we can see right through ya. Sonny in background: Oh no! Girl you can't conceal it; we know how ya feel and who you're thinking of." _

"_Oh! No chance, no way, I won't say it, no, no," _I'm swaying my hips to the beat, and playing the part of denial. Pedro, and Rafael have a self-satisfied smile on their faces, and Nico can't take his warm amber eyes off me. I offer him a flirtatious smirk which makes him grin from ear to ear.

"_You swoon you sigh. Why deny it, uh-oh,"_ My girls sing.

"_It's to cliché. I won't say I'm in love."_ I hover a little ways off the ground and twirl around as my girls coo a simple note for a moment before I start again. _"I thought my heart had learned its lesson. It feels so good when you start out."_ I smile at Nico again and my heart flutters as he joins me in the air. _"My head is screaming, 'Get a grip girl! Unless you're dying to cry your heart out.' Oh!"_ I sing out the last word as my girls start again.

"_You keep on denying, who you are and how you're feelin'. Baby we're not buying. Hon, we saw you hit the ceiling. Sonny in background: Oh no! Face it like a grown-up. When you gonna own-up, that you got, got, got it bad." _

"_No chance, no way, I won't say it no, no."_ Nico dances with me, playing the part of my beau, as my girls fly around us.

"_Give up, give in."_ Then just Josie, _"Check the grin you're in love."_

"_This scene won't play; I won't say I'm in love_." I turn away from Nico as part of the act, but this little sunbeam is not easily deterred. He stays close to me, and reaches to wrap his wings around my shoulders. Ever so slyly, I step out of the way and shake a pointer feather at him. He flops on the sand, but shakes his head and stands back up.

"_You're doin' flips, read our lips you're in love."_

"_You're way off base I won't say it!"_ I shoo my girls away and clench my fists in false anger. _"Get off my case I won't say it!"_ I go to fly further away from Nico but he catches my wing. I look back at him and he's got this adorable little smirk on his beak and a twinkle in his eyes.

"_Girl, don't be proud. It's ok you're in love."_ My girls settle on the ground by Pedro, and they all smile at the two of us floating just off the ground, grinning foolishly at each other.

"_Oh,"_ This I draw out as Nico twirls me in close to him, and dips me slowly as I sing, making my heart pound and my cheeks heat with a soft blush. _"At least out loud, I won't say I'm in…love_." He pulls me up and touches the top of his beak to mine, and I am fighting hard to keep my head on earth and out of the clouds. Nico spins me out and I toss the bottle cap on his head just on top of the smartly parted, brown tipped feathers.

"Perfect!" Our friends cheer. "That is just what you needed!" Pedro caws.

"It's just right to keep tempo with." I tell him with a wide grin.

"Thanks!" Nico fiddles with his new hat and rolls it across is shoulders, then pops it up in the air only to catch it with an elaborate spin. "You were great Sonny!" He says spinning it on his flight feathers, like I had, and setting it in his head.

"Thanks. We've been working on that one for a while, and this was the first time we've got to show it off." I told him.

"Well it was perfect." Those eyes; those soft, glittering eyes. It was enough to make my heart want to melt. He took a step towards me and my smile only got wider. "By the way; I'm never taking this thing off." He winked and brought me into a dazed trance. I hopped forward, and hugged him tightly. As I pulled back his face was mere centimeters away from mine, and he started to lean in towards me.

"Now what?" Pedro asked, clearly bored with his surroundings and destroying the moment…yet again. Embarrassed I hopped back and blushed furiously.

"We got an appointment at the waterfall. Actually, we're gonna be late." Patty grabbed my wing and shoved me towards the jungle.

"I don't…" I started but they took off, and I had to follow, after a backwards glance at Nico.

"Go on. Have some fun." He shooed me towards the trees like he wanted me to stay, but didn't want me to miss out on the fun.

"I'll see you later!" I called and took off after my girls.

* * *

><p>"Alright man. We set you up. Now go." Pedro turned to me and spoke after snapping me out of my stupor at Sonny's disappearing form. That song was beautiful! It was the first time I'd seen her sing outside of the club, and it didn't seem to matter where she was, her voice was always beautiful.<p>

"Set me up? I was just about to make my move!" I spluttered, irritated with their constant interrupting. They glared at me and I iced my nerves. "Oh…right." I rubbed my face. "What the heck should I even say?"

"Raúl's really good about this stuff, and Clarissa should be out of the hollow so you'll be totally good." Pedro told me.

"Just say what you need to. Be yourself. You've got nothin' to lose." Rafael shoved me playfully.

"Ha! Nothin'; only the most wonderful girl in the world." I chuckled.

"You'll be fine. Now get goin' we'll keep a look out for Clarissa."

"Alright. Here I go." I took a deep breath and took off. I zoomed through the trees as fast as I could so as to out run my worries. For the past few days I had been Thinking about taking Sonny on a real date, you know; Flowers, trolly ride, walk on the beach at sunset, that type of thing. It's not like we were boyfriend/girlfriend…yet. I just had to tempt fate, because I couldn't live without knowing where we could go. It was a crazy sensation, and it made me feel completely bullet-proof.

So as I soared through the trees I rehearsed what I would say. "Hello Mr. Canary…No no; too formal. Sup Canary man? Oh boy, no! I'll get booted out." So on and so forth, and before I knew it I was there. Tentatively I stepped up and knocked on the door. I waited, and waited, and waited, for what seemed like forever, pouring over ways this could/would go wrong. "No." I scolded my mind, and forced myself to think about how happy Sonny would be when I asked her. It calmed me down; that is until the door was opened.

A rather round middle aged sparrow opened the door and beamed instantly. _Hmmm. _I thought. _Sonny's mom isn't near as scary as I had imagined._

"Oh, you must be Precious' boyfriend! Come in, come in!" She beamed and ushered me inside. As weird as it was, I thought it to be a good idea to stay on this bird's good side, so in I went. _Cute nickname though._ After a moment she left to get Sonny's dad and I waited patiently looking at the various knickknacks on the shelves. I was lost in admiring a picture of the family, and that's when it hit me. There were three birds in the picture, but none of them were canaries.

Out stepped the mom, the dad, and the daughter. They were all sparrows, all really weird, and I about died when I realized that, I had gone to the wrong hollow. But before I could say a word, the father sparrow puffed out his chest and spoke only to me, "So, you wish to court my daughter huh? What makes you think you are worthy? Especially with a hat like that?" He placed his wings behind his back and walked around me, flipping off my bottle cap as he spoke the last line.

My eyes were wide as I tensely picked up the hat. The daughter beamed at me with her strange little face; she looked to be fifteen years older than me and had make-up plastered all over her face. All I wanted to do was fly away as fast as I could, and I needed to get out before Clarissa got home. So dumbly, as though my brain had shut off I mumbled, "Well sir, I believe I'm in the wrong place."

The elder sparrow's eyes got wide and he narrowed them down to slits. "OUT!" Then he lunged at me and I flew out like my life depended on it; which it pretty much did. The little door slammed back on its hinges, and I pumped my wings so hard I thought they would fall off.

"Help! Help me!" I called; hoping either Pedro or Rafael was nearby. I looked behind me, after getting about thirty feet away, and saw the sparrow glare daggers at me again. He wasn't chasing me, though, so I slowed down a bit.

"Nico? Nico! Watch out!" The surprised voice came from my left and I wiped my head around to see Sonny, just barely, as she flew right into me. We tumbled through the air and collapsed in a bunch of ferns. Slowly we sat up and I couldn't help but chuckle. Poor Sonny had leaves and little sticks stuck in her feathers, and she was glaring at me with false anger. "What the heck are you doing here? I thought you guys stayed at the beach." I reached out a wing to help her up. "And why were you at my neighbor's hollow?"

"Well…It's a long story really..." Then I smirked playfully and took a leaf off her head. "I could ask you the same question. I thought you were at the waterfall."

"I had to check in with my mom, so she doesn't think I'm dead." She rolled her gorgeous green eyes and brushed off her feathers. My eyes got wide and my breath caught in my throat, as I realized that Clarissa would be at the hollow. "Are you ok?" Sonny hopped forward and placed a wing gently on my shoulder.

"Yeah." I sighed and smiled. Yet, on the inside, I was freaking out.

"Liar." And here come the puppy-dog eyes. She tilted her head to the side, and put a soft look of concern on her face. My heart melted; she was just too cute.

"Alright fine. I was on my way to your hollow…" How the heck was I gonna say this? _Please God, _I sent up a silent prayer, _let her understand. _

"Why?" She knitted her brow together and frowned.

"Well, umm…" _Just spit it out feather-brain!_ "I wanted to talk to your dad, about, maybe, taking you out on a date or something sometime." Her eyes got wide and the brightest smile in all of the world came to her beak.

"Really?"

"Really." I grinned. With that she jumped into my wings and I held her close as we spun around. I set her down and she pecked my cheek, making me blush furiously.

"Well come on. My hollow's over here."

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><p><strong>Ok so EmmerzK... I used your scene from your spin on my story cause I thougth it would be freakin' hilarious and it turned out to be insanely fun to write. So I thank you for the inspiration! I hope you liked this chapter cause it;s gonna start to get crazy here over the next couple chapters! tehehe! XD<strong>


	6. Chapter 6: Father May I?

**Chapter 6**

**Father May I?**

_That went better than expected. _I thought to myself and followed my sunshine through the leaves until we came to a quaint little hollow with a door that had a home-made welcome sign on it. "This is nice!" I told her as we landed.

"Thanks. I helped my parents make this sign when I was like five." She blushed.

"It's beautiful." I smiled at her and pecked her cheek.

"Alright." She gently pushed me back when I leaned in again for some unforeseen reason. "Come on in." Then she opened the door and was immediately bombarded with questions.

"Sonora! Do you know how worried I was? I thought you had disappeared! Are you hurt? Did you even think about your poor mother?" A middle aged canary, with bright blue eyes, zoomed forward and smacked me with the tips of her wings as she wrapped Sonny in them. I rubbed my cheek and stayed by the door.

"Clarissa, you'll kill her! Look she's turning purple!" Sure enough the luckless canary's feathers were turning blue at the tips.

"Oh sorry honey! I just worry about you! Especially after…"

"Yeah mom, The Fight, I know." Sonny waved a wing and tried to turn back to me. Currently I hadn't moved and was just watching calmly.

"No you don't know!" Her mother growled. "I thought your beak was going to be crooked for the rest of your life, and you were going to have to go with the F.N. because of your silly temper."

"Mom!" Sonny said loudly and stopped her mother's talking. "I brought over a friend," She hopped over to me and smiled "But I need you to help me look for something." She added quickly and glided down the hallway to, what I guessed to be, her room. Sadly, for my case, her mother didn't follow her, but rather stayed, and narrowed her eyes at me. Her father stood and walked up to me too, shooting me a look of almost apology for what was to come.

"Good to meet you boy!" He said cheerfully, his emerald green eyes gleaming. "My name is Raúl, but you can call me 'sir' if that suits your feathers." With a beaming smile I shook the wing he extended firmly.

"I'm Nico, but you can call me 'boy' if you like." I told him jokingly. Sonny face-palmed and giggled; making my confidence sky-rocket.

"Nico is basically Pedro's brother and he grew up on the east side. He's really smart, and lives with Pedro now." She explained placing a gentle wing on my shoulder.

"Oh and why is that?" A look of concern crossed Raúl's face, but Clarissa hadn't changed her glare.

"It doesn't even matter! He's from the east side!" She tossed her wings around than turned back to me; "OUT!" she screamed and took a menacing step forward while pointing a wing out the door.

_Twice in one day? What is this? _I thought and frowned as I turned towards the door.

"No mom." Sonny stepped in between us and I snapped my gaze back to her. "Nico is not like the east side birds in heart. He may have gone to school there, but he is just like us. He loves music, and he loves to dance. Nico is a good bird and I _know_ you have to give him a chance." Her shoulders were cocked back and she was a little ruffled up in my defense. _Thank you! _I called to the heavens.

"Sonora!" Her mother gasped as Raúl smiled and suppressed a chuckle.

"Why not listen to her Riss? If Sonny likes him, than he may be worth interrogating." He winked at me. "I like him; shakes with a firm wing, and is brave enough to fly around with this on his head." Raúl motioned to my bottle cap.

"Thanks…found it today." I said sheepishly and held it to my chest as a gesture of respect.

"We thought it would help loosen him up a touch." Sonny winked and playfully shoved me; I smiled gratefully back at her.

"Well _boy_," Raúl teased, "I know you're here to do a little more than get ridiculed by my daughter and Rissy here." Then he turned to the girls, "Why don't you go to the waterfall while me and junior have a talk?" He placed his wings on his mate's shoulders and ran them down her wings to take hold of them gently.

"Yeah come on mom! Patty and Josie are waiting for us." Sonora grabbed the older canary's wing and basically dragged her out the door. After getting her mother flying she flew back quickly and hugged me tightly for a moment. "Good luck!" She whispered and butterfly kissed my cheek with her long eyelashes so her dad couldn't see. "Meet me back at the beach when you're done."

"Kay. Now go." I gave her a wink and away she went.

"Well," Raúl sighed and I turned back to him. To my surprise he looked a little tired. "You pass my test."

"Wh…what?" I was a little shocked. Sure the guy was nice, but nobody was that nice.

"Nico, let me tell you something." He motioned to the back porch and we walked out together to sit in the sunshine. "There has been one other time that a boy came in here wanting the same thing; to take my little sundrop on a date."

"Wow, only one other time and you're telepathic?" I said trying to cheer him up. He chuckled, but the look in his eyes was strained.

"Yeah. This kid was smooth; he was a regular silver-wing. But he hurt my little girl, he hurt her bad."

"What? Why? Sonora is wonderful! I could never do anything to hurt her!" I gasped.

"His name was Antonio, and he is a Paradise Tanger. And boy did he have us fooled for a while. He told us he grew up on the west side, and Sonny said that she had met him at The Branch. I should have seen it then. They went out for two months, and Sonny swore he was the one.

"But turns out he was born and raised on the east side, and Ana, that conniving lorikeet, hired him to hurt my baby. Sonny caught the two of them in the back of The Branch." Raúl explained. This was insane. What kind of evil bird would do that to someone? I knew there was something wrong with that bird from the moment I met her.

"Jeez…" I breathed.

"Yeah, but when she caught them her temper got the better of her and there was a huge fight. East vs. West. Considering that Ana is nearly twice Sonora's size, and she had Antonio, she was out-numbered."

"What about Pedro, or Rafael, or the girls…" I sputtered and stood.

"Sonny went alone. She was completely set up to get hurt, and she barely got home in one piece. They tried to pluck out her feathers, Ana broke her beak, and she severely rolled her ankle while trying to get out. That's why Clarissa is so paranoid about her. She doesn't want to see something like that happen to her ever again. I don't either…" The older canary rubbed his face and ran a wing over the back of his head and down his neck.

"Why are you telling me this?" I was suddenly very nervous. Was this a way to scare me off?

"Because I know that Sonny trusts you, and that she'll probably tell you the story from her point of view eventually. This way you're not totally clueless." He ruffled my feathers and I flipped my bottle cap back on my head when he was done. "Plus I like you, _boy_." Again with the fatherly smile.

"So that's a yes?" I asked hopefully, joy welling in my chest.

"Sure. But I have to tell you that her mother will not be quite as friendly. Heck she was a tough nut to crack for _me_." We laughed together as he said this. "All joking aside though, you appear to be a good kid, and Sonora likes you. Therefore I have all the stuff I need to give you my seal of approval. Just promise me one thing," Together we stood and he placed his wings on my shoulders.

"Anything." I was looking Raúl square in the eye as I said this.

"If ever Antonio, or Ana, tries to talk to you alone, get out of there as fast as you can. All they're going to do is use you to hurt my little girl."

"Are you trying to scare me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. There was a pause as we stared at each other. "Ahhhh!" We said together, laughed, and shared a wing bump.

"I told you I liked you right?" He chuckled and wrapped a wing around my shoulders.

"Twice now _sir_." I joshed. He shook his head and stepped back inside.

"Alright smart-wings. Go and tell the boys about it, and don't forget to go back to the beach!"

"Sir yes sir!" I crowed and took off to go back to the beach to tell Pedro and Rafael. I shot through the canopy and hovered above the jungle. Everything looked brand new, and I couldn't wipe this dumb little grin off my face. Nothing could go wrong!

Finally I got there and found the rock by the water and looked around. There was no sign of either of them. "Ralphy? Pedro?" I called and hopped around.

"Nope, but I'm here." I spun around and saw Ana glide down from the top of a palm tree and land in front of me. Alarms went off in my mind and I spread my wings to fly away. "Where you goin' sunshine?" She asked and lunged forward, grabbing my wing.

"Well, I was gonna meet my _friends _here, but there obviously not here, so I should prolly go look for them." I took my wing back and turned to run. There was a strange noise off to my left and Ana grabbed my shoulders, spun me towards her and full out kissed me. I jumped back, but she grabbed me and I had no choice but to step on her foot to get away.

"Ow! Hey!" She whined. "Stay away from her, if you want to keep her safe!" She screamed as I flew. Without a backwards glance I shot down the beach.

_I truly hope that this doesn't last too long. _I thought.

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><p><strong>I love Raul! He's the best daddy ever! lol Anywho, sorry it's a little choppy, but I was trying to work fast cause I've made you guys wait a whole week. So here you go, next chapter should be pretty cool, and a little crazy, so be prepared! OH and BTW: The chapter title is a parody off of that old school-yard game we all used to play: Mother May I? Cute right?<strong>


	7. Chapter 7: Date Night

**Holy Lord am I excited for this chapter! Speaking of which: Happy Easter! Anyway... this chapter is so adorable! ok enough out of me, or I might give away the whole chapter! XD **

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><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**Date Night**

"Why did you bring your mom?" Patty asked me as we flew behind my mother who was chatting with a few of her friends.

"Because I'd like to see Nico live for longer than the first three minutes I leave him alone in my hollow." I replied.

"Aw come on. She's not that bad." Josie defended.

"Not that bad?" I gave her a skeptical look. "I barely mentioned that he was born on the east side and she almost threw him out; _li-ter-ally."_

"Wow."

"Yeah. My dad saved him though. I have no idea what I'd do without him." I sighed.

"You'd be locked away in your room, never allowed to leave…" Then patty smirked and spoke in a more dramatic tone. "Until your bottle cap wearing prince came and saved you from the clutches of the over protective mother, and spirited you away into happily ever after."

"Would you shut up?" I smacked her wing. "What if he flies by?"

"You said he was asking your dad if he could take you on a date. That means he likes you; so why would it matter?" Josie countered.

"Well…uh…umm…" I stammered. _What would it matter? _

"Ha! We're right!" My friends cheered. "Nico and Sonny sittin' in a tree; K-i-s-s-i-n-g!" They sang loudly.

"Oh that's it! I'm gonna kill you!" I zoomed into Patty and dove under Josie making them both wobble in flight. Then dove between them making them spin around and around, unable to stop.

"Ok ok! We're sorry!" They called and I righted their flight so they didn't fall out of the sky.

"That'll teach you to mess with me." I taunted and stuck my tongue out at them.

"At least we know we're right." Patty grinned.

"About what?"

"You're clearly falling for Nico, no matter how hard you try to deny it." Josie affirmed.

I opened my beak to snip back that they were wrong, but no words entered the air. Could they be right? Could Nico really be different? He was nothing like Antonio, and he clearly didn't like Ana at all. He wasn't an east-sider. He was special.

There was something, I didn't know what, that I felt when he was near me. Something that made my heart pound, and my cheeks feel warm. I would say it was…love…but I said that with Antonio. For that stupidity I ended up with a broken beak, a rolled ankle, and a shattered heart. I had sworn that I would never say I was in love again.

But today at the beach… it wasn't just the song. It was the way he looked at me, the way he didn't let me fly away, the way he spun me into him and held me there, nearly daring to kiss me. I couldn't get the picture of the twinkle in his eyes the night he passed my test _(Three weeks ago now. Jeez)_ out of my head. And that smile! It was enough to make my heart melt.

"So what are you waiting for? Meet him at the beach!" My girls broke me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I asked still dazed.

"You told Nico to meet you at the beach when he was done talking with your dad. He's got to be done by now." Josie explained.

"We'll cover for you." Patty winked and I beamed at them.

"You girls are the best friends ever! You know that right?" I hugged them in flight and turned to zoom towards the beach. The sun seemed to be shining brightly and everything felt fresh. I had the best feeling that my dad had said yes, and I couldn't wait to hear the words come out of Nico's beak. Soon enough I was soaring over the sugar and of Ipanima beach, watching the humans play around with colorful balls, and swim in the ocean.

I found the rock and circled around, looking for any sign of Nico, but as I got closer I saw only Ana sitting there holding her foot. _Weird _I thought, but I really didn't care. I watched her for a second and she scowled down the beach at something. I followed her gaze and saw Nico darting above the sand, flying like he was being chased by a hawk.

"Nico?" I called and took off after him. "Nico wait up!" I was gaining on him, ever so slowly, but he seemed not to hear me. Soon I was gliding just above him and dove into a loop to get his attention. "Nico!" I shouted as I circled.

"Sonny?" He stopped dead, and where he stopped was right in my path. I had too much momentum and slammed into him, for the second time that day. We spiraled towards the ground, but out of nowhere he grabbed my wing tip and forced my wings to open. Gratefully I sighed and grinned at him.

"Seems we just keep running into each other." I taunted.

"I'm ok with that." He gave me a crooked smile and I giggled. "So you'll never guess what you're dad said." The smile didn't leave his face as he spoke. A huge grin broke across my face and he tilted is head towards the beach.

"He said yes?" I cried and preformed a body roll then glided down to the sand after my little sunbeam. He caught me and spun around as I clung to his feathers, laughing hysterically. I felt so happy I thought my heart would explode.

"Sure did." Nico chuckled and set me down gently. I couldn't let go of him though; so I kept him wrapped in a loose hug. "When do you wanna go?" His eyes were soft and we rested our foreheads against each other.

"I don't know. When are you free?" I replied softly.

"Whenever you are." Holy feathers this guy was perfect!

"How about right now?" I didn't want to leave, and I'm 99% sure I couldn't if I tried.

"Sounds perfect." Nico spun me around and dipped me slightly. He leaned in, but I chose to play hard to get.

"Nice try." I cooed and placed a flight feather on his beak. The poor guy turned bright red and stood up. "Come on." I waved for him to follow me. "I want to show you something."

"Mystery. I like it!" He wiggled his eyebrows and I giggled again. _Nice recovery._ I thought.

"This is a fun little thing we west-siders like to do." I dived into a spiral and he cheered playfully. "Easy there bud." I chided impishly. He rolled those gorgeous amber brown eyes and smirked. This almost made me fall out of the sky; I was awestruck.

We flew through the city for a little while longer until we came to the trolley cables. "What are these?" Nico asked as we hovered for a moment.

"Wait for it." I grinned as the sound of the mechanical wonder coming up the street. Soon enough the bright yellow bumper of the trolley came around the corner. "Ah, here we go." I sighed and landed on the golden roof.

"This is so cool." Nico breathed and landed next to me.

"Yeah. The trolleys are a great way to not have to fly all the way across the city all the time." We sat down and wrapped our wings around each other. For a while we basked in each other's company, when suddenly a branch brushed across the cables making a strumming sound.

An idea hit us at the exact same instant, and we stood together. Nico rolled off his bottle cap, and with another strum from a branch he began to whistle strong and clear. Feeling playful, I took his bottle cap out of his wings and started to tap it to keep the beat. He gave me a little glare, but started to sing with a voice that made my knees feel weak.

"_Wasn't really thinking, wasn't looking, wasn't searching for an answer… In the moonlight, when I saw your face." _He twirled me around slowly. Then I sang the next line.

_Saw you looking at me; saw you peeking out from moonbeams through the palm trees…swaying in the breeze."_ The words came straight from my heart, and it was perfect. Nico was the same way, the words, the slow little dance, the look in his eyes. It made a different type of happiness, a wonderful joy, well up in my heart.

We sang the next part together. _"I know I'm feeling so much more than ever before, and I know I'm giving more to you, than I thought I could do!" _

Then back to Nico and his rich as honey voice, _"Don't know how it happened, don't know why, but you don't really need a reason…when the stars shine…just to fall in love._"

"_Made to love each other, made to be together, for a lifetime… In the sunshine…flying through the sky." _The words came out of my beak smoothly, and my heart began to pound as his eyes widened then turned into gentle pools of emotion. Together we glided into the chorus.

"_And I know I'm feeling so much more than ever before. And I know I'm giving more to you than I thought I could do. Oh! Now I know love is real. Soaring sky high, as the angels try; letting you and I; Fly Love!" _The last words we drew out as long as we could, lost in the other's eyes and slowly leaning closer, and closer. Our beaks were literally millimeters apart when the trolley stopped and we flopped over on the roof from the jolting movement.

_Oh come on! _I groaned mentally. _Sure I played hard to get earlier, but really? Pedro wasn't even here to ruin it!_

"That was incredible." Nico said sitting up. I sighed and turned back to him.

"No joke. I had no idea you could sing like that." I said trying to make conversation, and avoid the awkward moment just a second ago. I smiled as he stepped closer.

"Hidden talent I guess." Nico spoke softly and took my wings in his. "You know Sonny, I've never met another girl like you."

"Aw, sure you have." I blushed and my heart was pounding as I looked up to his eyes.

"No." His tone was dead serious. "You are the only sparky, kind, and beautiful girl in Rio that could turn this flimsy academy boy into what I am now." I opened my beak to object, but he placed a flight feather on my beak and I closed it. "You have helped me become one of the gang, and there is nothing that will change my mind on this one."

"Nico…" I breathed and looked away. "You don't understand." I leapt off the trolley and flew to a little tree covered in pink blossoms, tears in my eyes. I sat down and tried to calm down.

Then there was a rush of feathers and Nico landed next to me. "What's wrong?" He asked with thick concern in his voice as he sat next to me.

"I'm a bad bird." I said and my voice cracked.

"Nonsense." Nico objected and turned my face towards him. "You are wonderful."

"No, I am a curse. Anyone who is around me always gets hurt, and I don't know why. I didn't do anything to Ana, and all she does is hurt my friends to hurt me." Tears were rolling down my cheeks now and the chivalrous Nico wrapped a wing around me. "I…I…I don't want that to happen to you." I was taking shuddering breaths to keep the sobs back. "I…I really like you Nico, and I don't want you to get hurt because of me."

"Hey," He smiled and made me look him in the eye. "Curse or not we'll deal with it together."

"Are you sure?" I asked doubtfully, looking away again.

"As sure as I've ever been about anything in my life." He paused for a moment, mulling over his next words. Gently he brushed his wing across my cheek and I looked back to him. My heart leaped when our eyes met; tender compassion glowed there in the deep amber depths. "I love you Sonny."

And with those words my heart melted and the tears evaporated. No one but my parents had ever said they loved me. A gentle smile came to my face and I spoke in a quiet voice, letting my heart do the thinking. "I love you too." Slowly Nico leaned in, and this time, I didn't draw back. My eyes fluttered closed as our beaks met, and I savored the soft, tender, first kiss.

Then. There. My life was never the same.

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><p>"There. Perfect. He's kissed her." The rainbow lorikeet chuckled and turned to her partner. "Now it's up to you to distract Sonny, so I can make my move."<p>

"This is a bit much don't you think?" The Paradise Tanger buy the name of Antonio asked.

"Did I ask you what you thought of my plan?" Ana snipped.

"No, but this is pretty harsh. I mean before it was a little over the top, but this is just wrong."

"Don't you want to get back at her for beating you in the East vs. West dance battle?" She cried.

"That was you that got beat. I don't want anything to do with this." Antonio spread his little wings to fly away, but Ana tackled him and pinned him to the branch they were perched on.

"You do as I say or you'll never preform in this town again." She hissed in his bright green face.

"Now now Ana, darling. We need him alive if we are to keep our plan intact." A new voice, strong and slightly maniacal, entered the scene. The lori whirled around to stare right into the yellow ringed eyes of Phillip.

"Yes dear." Ana sighed and set Antonio down. He gasped for air until the Hyacinth macaw stood not inches from his beak.

"You were part of this the first time, you'll be part of it the second time." He hissed. "And if you choose to betray us, you'll have more than a lack of performances to worry about."

"Yes sir." Antonio saluted and took off for The Branch. _Oh Sonora, I don't want to do this, but I have to. _He thought, wishing so bad he was telepathic.

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><p><strong>DUN DUN DUN! And Phillip returns! sort of...I guess this is before...<strong>

**REVIEW!**


	8. Chapter 8: Canary Corner

**Chapter 8**

**Canary Corner**

After leaving the little tree, Sonny had suggested we go and take a look at the hollow she had been fixing up, and were now flying through the trees towards the waterfall. But wow! These last few hours had been the best couple hours in my entire life, and they proved my thoughts to be correct. I couldn't live without her.

Yup. My name is Nico. I wear a bottle cap on my head. I'm eighteen years old. I met the most amazing girl in the _universe_ three weeks ago, and I found the love of my life in her. I looked over at her, at my Sonora, and smiled softly. _I really do love her._

She hadn't stopped smiling since the kiss, and neither had I. I felt invincible, bullet-proof, like nothing could touch me. I had found my girl, and I would do anything for her.

"Whatcha starin' at?" Sonny asked as we banked around a bunch of vines.

"My girl." I replied and she blushed while rolling her eyes. Then her face brightened as we came to a sturdy tree with a canary sized hollow about three quarters of the way up the trunk.

"Here we are!" She squealed as we landed. "Welcome to Canary Corner." She hopped inside and I followed closely behind.

"Nice name." I commented.

"Thanks. Pedro helped me come up with it." Sonny replied and walked down a little hallway and into a room. "This is mine! This whole big room, this whole hollow is mine! No curfew, no rules, no nothing. Just me and my thoughts." She sighed and arranged a few flowering vines just outside the window.

"Wow. This is super cool." I agreed and stepped back into the big room.

"Thanks. And down here is a guest room," She smiled and lead me just a few steps further to another room, "Maybe you can stay the night sometime."

"I would love to." I smirked and she led me back to the big room, holding tightly to my wing. There was a little counter with bottle cap stools in front of it and a few chairs made out of sticks, moss, and twine in what appeared to be the living room. She had even made some curtains, and a tablecloth for a table she had made out of six larger bottle caps and some sticks and twine. "Aren't we a crafty one?" I commented.

"It needed some stuff, and my mom sure as heck wasn't going to loan me anything. She wants me to live with her until I die, and there is no way on all of Rio that's going to happen." She explained and drug a stool behind the counter so she could reach for something on a top shelf. I stepped up behind her and, after she grabbed her objective, I grabbed her waist and spun her off the stool so she landed in my wings. "Whew, you are a feisty one aren't you?" She smirked.

"You are the reason why." I kissed her quickly and set her down. She shook her head and blushed softly. "Whatcha got there?" I asked and looked at her wing.

"Oh, this is something mom and dad gave me on my sixteenth birthday," She opened her fist to show me a little clam shell. It was speckled brown, black and little dots of blue and purple on the cream colored top, then when turned upside down it was opalescent. A rainbow of hues danced across the inside of the shell as the sun hit it. "They told me that it's a reminder to never give up on love. That it's still out there even if I've been hurt." She looked up to me as she said this and her meadow green eyes glittered with glee.

"They were right." I pulled her into a hug and sighed happily.

"Thanks Nico, you're the absolute best." She said from where her head rested on my shoulder.

"No you're the best." I replied.

"Nooo. You're the best." She countered. And so we argued for a few more minutes until she finally threw her wings in the air and turned away. "Fine you win!"

"There we go." I punched her wing lightly and chuckled. Sh ejust rolled her eyes and hugged me again.

"Knock knock!" We heard a few birds land outside.

"Come in!" Sonny called and I wrapped a wing around her waist.

"There you two lovebirds are!" Pedro, Rafael, and a new bird I hadn't met walked in. He was a Raggiana Bird of Paradise and had a cocky smile on his blue beak.

"Tadeo! Where have you been bird?" Sonny ran up to him and he wrapped her in a hug.

"Oh you know me sunshine, I've been scouring all of Brazil for the legendary Kingdom Paradise. I'm getting closer you know." He spun her around and dipped her flirtatiously, and a little green monster jumped on my shoulder.

"Tadeo, I've told you multiple times;" Sonny rolled her eyes and spun out. "It can never work between us." She acted all dramatic and pretended to faint. I stepped forward and caught her, before she hit the floor.

"Eu sei que coisa doce (I know sweet thing {Portuguese})." He crooned and I glared at him. He took notice and walked around us, inspecting me thoroughly. "Who are you?" He asked feigning harshness.

"The name's Nico." I set Sonny back on her feet and extended a wing to shake.

"Ah. He's the bird you were telling me about; the one that hopes to take my place as Sonora's biggest fan." He whispered through his wing to Ralphy and Pedro who snickered at my blushing face.

"Yup this is him." Sonny joshed and pecked my cheek.

"Seems you've already passed me." He took my wing and shook it in a friendly manner. "You've won her heart." He murmured so only I could hear.

"I guess that's life." I shrugged with a smile as Sonora wrapped her wing around my waist.

"I say we celebrate; to The Branch!" Juan spread his wings valiantly and glided out the door.

"Woo hoo!" Pedro and Sonny cheered and followed him. I just stood there for a moment, still in a bit of a daze.

"Nico, you ok?" Ralphy asked as we stepped outside.

"I can seriously say that there has never been a day in my life that I have been more ok." I smiled. "This is the best day ever!" I cried and took off after Sonny.

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><p>Go figure Tadeo The Dreamer showed up. As soon as he graduated he flew off to the middle of the Amazon to find Kingdom Paradise. This is a place you hear about in fairytales; it's like that place humans call Atlantis. He may be a touch crazy, but he could still sing and dance like none other. He was also known for being a love song artist, therefore explaining why Pedro and Raphael had brought him along.<p>

"So, how's your day goin'?" Pedro asked me as we flew.

"You have no idea how great my day has been!" I performed a happy body roll and laughed.

"I'm so glad you guys hit it off. I knew you would." The cardinal had a wide grin on his face as he said this. I blushed.

"Me too." I sighed. "You have always been like a brother for me Pedro, and thank you so much for everything!" I circled around him.

"No prob sista." He chuckled and smiled even bigger.

"So now you have to tell me something." I looked at him seriously.

"What?"

"Why does Nico live with you?" I had been really curios about that fact ever since it occurred to me that it was true.

"Aw man…" He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground far below. "Sonny, you know I would tell you, but I can't. Nico swore me to secrecy. If you wanna know you're gonna have to talk to him about it." Pedro explained.

"Hmmm." I looked away. _I guess I'll have to ask later. _I decided as we landed at the end of the fruit market. Nico landed and took my wing in his as we walked into the club.

"You ok?" He asked, and I smiled up at him.

"Never better." I replied and pecked his cheek. "So you wanna sing or dance?" I asked feeling better about talking to him later.

"How about…" He paused and thought for a minute. But suddenly a spotlight shone directly on us and I had to cover my face with my wing so as to not go blind.

"Ah! There's my little sundrop!" That voice. That was the voice that betrayed me. The voice that I used to think I couldn't live without and now hated. I whirled to face the stage and saw Antonio standing there with a fake smile on his beak.

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><p><strong>Ok I have to apologize for the shortness of the chapter. I had to make a little transition into the next chapter, and this was all I could do. so sorry it's short, and a little choppy, but here it is. XD Also: I changed Juan's name to Tadeo cause I thought it was cooler. Sorry if you were absolutly in love with the name Juan!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9: Mysteries

**Chapter 9**

**Mysteries**

The whole club tensed. Nobody had seen Antonio since that night, and everyone swore that if he showed his face around here again, he would be in a ton of trouble. Rafael, Pedro, Tadeo, and Nico tensed, and I saw Nico ruffle up. I could feel his hateful thoughts for Antonio course through his mind. My dad must have talked to him about it, and I could only imagine what he wanted to do to that preener's stupid green head.

"Hey baby. You didn't let me explain the situation. I really _want you back_." Antonio snapped his feathers and a track started. _"When I had you to myself  
>I didn't want you around. Those pretty faces always made you stand out in a crowd. But someone picked you from the bunch; one glance was all it took. Now it's much too late for me to take second look."<em>

As he sang I just started shaking from rage, and I knew I was turning orange. This was _ridiculous!_ He knew I hated his dirty, smelly, rotten guts, yet he pulls this? I just glared daggers at him until Nico tapped me on the shoulder. "Over here." He nodded to a table covered in leaf-cups full of soda.

"I told you I loved you right?" I whispered and gave him a quick kiss before flying over to the table.

"Dude! Did she just…?" Pedro sputtered as I flew away.

"Yup." I heard Nico say proudly. I smiled lightly as I heard them talk, but then I made it to the table. I picked up the fullest looking cup, and with a wicked smile I flew up to the stage.

"_Oh baby give me one more chance to show you that I love you…" _He paused as I reached him; a cocky smile stuck to his face. "Whadda ya say Sonny?" He asked.

"My name," I growled, "Is Sonora. And I _say_ you're a stuck up preener who needs to go back to the east-side and _stay_ there." Then I dumped the soda on his head. The crowd "ooed" at the burn, then erupted into cheers. I landed on the stage behind him. I glared daggers at his now soaking wet feathers, and nodded at the DJ who was grinning and chuckling to himself.

An electric guitar began to play and I started my own song._ "You know the nest feels warmer sleeping here alone. You know I dream in color, and do the things I want." _ Then I walked around in front of him and was flat out yelling the lyrics in his face. _"You think you got the best of me; think you had the last laugh; bet you think that everything good is gone. Think you left me broken down, think that I'd come running back; baby you don't know me, 'cause you're dead wrong." _

Then he had the nerve to smirk in a smart-wing kind of way at my actions. My temper flared and I full out back-winged him across the face. Antonio looked shocked but I turned on my heel and soared smiled broadly at the crowd, while soaring into the chorus.

"_What doesn't kill you makes you stronger; stand a little taller! Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. What doesn't kill you makes a fighter; footsteps even lighter! Doesn't mean I'm over 'cause you're gone. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger; just me, myself and I! What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller; doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone." _ The music lulled for a moment and I spied my friends cheering, Nico loudest of all, in the front row. I caught and held his affectionate gaze for a moment.

"Take it away Sonny!" He cried and I nodded with a beaming smile. I didn't look away from him as I sang.

"_You heard that I was starting over with someone new. They told you I was moving on over you. You didn't think that I'd come back I'd come back swinging; you tried to break me, but you see…"_ And back through the chorus as a bunch of other girls joined me on stage, Patty and Josie included; all of us dragging the Tanger down a list of done-us-wrongs. They quieted down and let me take the next verse solo.

"_Thanks to you I got a new thing started. Thanks to you I'm not the broken hearted. Thanks to you I'm finally thinking 'bout me. You know in the end the day you left was just my beginning. In the end..." _ Back to the chorus, and all of us singing our hearts out, with the whole club cheering us on and jumping up and down to the beat. We made it to the last few lines and the girls all flew back into the crowd leaving me alone on the stage with a shocked Antonio behind me.

"_What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger; just me, myself and I. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller! Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone. When I'm alone…"_ I drew out the last note in a deep tone whole the music droned out. When the music finally stopped the crowd exploded into cheers. I smiled and laughed. Then I turned back to Antonio. "Now get out." I pointed towards the door.

"Sonora, listen to me. I was put up to this." His little black eyes were so serious, and it was a new type of age I saw within them. He held up his wings as a gesture of innocence. "I respect your decision, totally, and I didn't want to come back here. You need to do something about Ana, she has a plan, and it's wrong." He told me.

"Why should I believe you?" I hissed.

"Because I'm risking my neck telling you this. Just trust me." His eyes glittered with a touch of fear and I knew I could trust him on this one point, so I nodded. "Anything that looks wrong at first, you can't blame Nico. _**It's not his fault**_." That was all he said and flew over the crowd and out the door as fast as his wings could carry him.

"Strange." I mumbled.

"There's my girl!" Nico crowed as he flew up to me. With a laugh the little sunbeam twirled me around and hugged me tightly. "That was amazing!"

"Aw it was nothin'." I blushed. "I just sang what I've been meaning to tell him for a long time."

"Now you know why there's a Sonora Marie Canary fan club." Tadeo joked, shoving Nico playfully. My girls' beaks dropped open at the mention of my much loathed middle name.

"Marie?" Nico looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"It's my middle name…" I grumbled looking at my feet. He used a flight feather to turn my beak back towards him.

"It's beautiful," He told me with a twinkle in his eyes, "Just like the rest of you." I wanted _so_ badly to kiss him right there, but I didn't want to look like a preener so I smiled brightly and together we flew to the back of the club. As we flew Nico turned to me, "Mine's Leonardo."

"What?" I asked confused.

"Nico Leonardo Canary. That's my full name." He said as we landed.

"I like it," I took his wing in mine; "It sounds like you." We hadn't even declared there to be no secrets and he had already proven to be beyond that. _Once again, Holy feathers this guy is perfect! _I thought and gave him a quick kiss. As we stepped apart we laughed at our friends open beaks.

"Teach me master!" Tadeo fell on his knees. "Teach me your ways of wooing beautiful women!" Que over-dramatic, comic relief Tadeo. Nico looked at him confusedly, and I rolled my eyes.

"Really?" I asked him twisting my wing. "You two can share secrets later." Then I wrapped my wing around Nico, "Cause he's mine for now." I smirked.

"For now?" Nico looked down at me, again with a raised eyebrow.

His bottle cap was falling over one eye as well and I fixed it before whispering in his ear so only he could hear, "For always." I met his eyes and felt so happy I thought I would explode.

He leaned by my ear and replied, "Same here."

* * *

><p>"What are you talking about?" A rather round Cock-of-the-Rock asked the Paradise Tanger that had burst through his door not minutes before.<p>

"There is a smugglers operation underway, and there are two high school kids in charge of it. You have to believe me!" Antonio begged.

"You were discharged from the service three years ago because we caught you in something similar," The Commissioner replied harshly with his trainee ruffled up next to him, "Why should we believe you now?"

"Because this is gonna hurt a girl that doesn't deserve it, and I can't see her go through that type of pain again." Antonio replied. It wasn't that her loved Sonora, heck he was ten years older than her, but he had to try and protect her from Ana and Phillip's plan.

"You don't really care!" The trainee, a pretty quetzal by the name of Selena, cried. "All you want is to get off the hook and save your own feathers!"

"Selena!" The Commissioner scolded, "Stand down."

"Yes sir." She mumbled and stepped back.

"Now Antonio… How do you know about this?" The orange bird turned back to the Tanger.

"Because I was part of the big East vs. West fight at The Branch three years ago, and it was my fault the canary got attacked. Now since the birds who planned it and used me as a pawn think they can trust me, they are turning to me again to get the canary. They're going to shatter her world and smuggle out this other kid." Antonio was dead serious and placed his wings on the desk to make his point. "This other kid is the one that the Cardinal's took in. The one…"

"We know." Selena snapped.

"Do you have any clue why?"

"Yes." Antonio looked at Selena and her harsh demeanor evaporated.

"It's Phillip isn't it? Phillip and the lori." She murmured.

"Yes."

"Commissioner, I have to take this." The quetzal stepped over to stand next to the ex-Feathers in the Night officer. "I know these birds and there is a chance I can figure out when and where they're going to strike. I know why now though."

"And why would that be?" The Commissioner sat down in his chair and looked at the two birds.

"Well this kid that was taken in by the Cardinals, I know him. His name's Nico. He stood up for me and helped me with some problems with Phillip. After that Phillip swore that he would have revenge for losing what he never really had. Then he teamed up with this crazy Rainbow lorikeet and God only knows what they're planning to do." Selena sighed. "Let me talk to Nico and find out about this other canary."

"Her name is Sonora. She is a little spit-fire and by the looks of it, they're a couple now. Perhaps that's why?" Antonio suggested.

"That could be." The round orange bird tapped a flight feather to his beak in thought. "Alright. You guys are partners for this mission. Antonio, consider yourself re-instated as an officer. You two are going undercover. Sel you're going after this Nico kid, and Antonio, you keep doing what you're doing with this Phillip character and the lorikeet. I expect daily reports."

"Yes sir." The two birds saluted.

"Now go. And bom suerte (good luck {Portuguese})." And off they went as feathers in the night.

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><p><strong>Tehehe! Check out this chapter! I love suspense! lol So much fun! BTW sorry it took so long.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10: Days Gone By

**Chapter 10**

**Days Gone By**

"I did my part! You weren't there!"

"I told you I was going to be late!"

"Did not!" Antonio was arguing with Ana, as the plan for The Branch had fallen through.

"You were late?" Phillip appeared in a rush of indigo feathers, and both birds cowered. The macaw's face looked calm, but his eyes betrayed the fact that he was furious.

"Yeah…I had a…" Ana tried to explain but was cut off when Phillip exploded.

"I don't care what you had!" He grabbed her by the throat and pinned her to the floor of the hollow. "If you fail again you will have _had _your feathers!" Then, smoothing the deep blue feathers on his neck, Phillip let her up and she gasped for breath. "Why do I let this happen?" He mumbled to himself. "I need a better agent; one that can actually follow orders."

"Hey! _I_ did what you told me to!" Antonio exclaimed hopping forward. Out of nowhere a huge cerulean wing caught him in the chest and he was thrown across the room.

"You are almost as useless as her!" The huge bird hissed. "But I need you both because I can't be seen on the west side."

"Why?" Ana and Antonio chorused.

"Because Nico would see me and there would be…complications." The Hyacinth macaw replied. "I don't want to kill him; I want to make him suffer. I want him to know what it's like to have something he loves torn away from him."

"That's a little…umm…" Ana sputtered.

"What?" The macaw whirled around, "That's a little what?" False patience seemed to be his favorite thing.

"Maybe a bit of…um…overkill?" The lorikeet shrugged.

"Overkill huh?" Phillip tapped his beak as if deep in thought. Then his face darkened, and he grabbed both of the birds in the hollow by their throats and slammed them against the wall. "OVERKILL? That little yellow freak ruined my life! I was the most coveted bird in the school until he came along with his 'morals' and 'ethics.' Then, oh then, he had the nerve to mess with my girl. He put some sort of spell on her because she loved me, and now she looks at me with nothing but scorn and disgust."

With that he threw the Tanger and the lorikeet on the ground in disgust. "I will soon have a better agent, a skilled bird who can complete my bidding without a worry."

"If you're gonna treat us like this, I'm out." Antonio helped Ana stand and moved to fly out of the hollow. With incredible speed, Phillip soared up behind the little bird and closed his enormous talons around Antonio's small wings and squeezed.

"You know the penalty for deserting," Phillip hissed, "A free ticket into The Light." Antonio fought for breath, but his lungs were being squeezed together and he could feel his ribs on the verge of snapping.

"Phillip, we need him. He's the only way we can get at Sonora." Ana spoke up, and the macaw turned to her. Her eyes were glazed over with a malevolent gleam and she seemed to be standing taller. Slowly she walked over to the macaw and ran her flight feathers across his shoulders making him shiver contentedly. "You don't want me to have to do all the work do you?" She made her big brown eyes bigger and smiled sweetly.

"Point taken." Then the Tanger was dropped on the floor, unconscious, like an old, useless glove. "Glad to see that you're back in your right mind." He crooned to the lorikeet and twirled her around on one claw. Then Phillip dipped her gently, and kissed her passionately.

"It's good to be back." Ana replied, and as she drew back a wicked gleam came to her eyes. _I told you it wasn't over you idiotic little canary._

* * *

><p>Three years had passed since my first date with Nico, and we had been inseparable since. I knew this love was forever and I knew that I would do anything for that bottle cap wearing drop of sunshine. We had been through so much; my mother, Ana and Antonio (who hadn't been seen in the rain forest for two years now), our first few fights, oh and Canary Corner.<p>

After I turned eighteen I had moved right in. My mother **highly** disagreed, but it wasn't that far away from home, and I was close to Rafael, and the boy's bachelor pad. Plus my mother came by from time to time just to check everything and make sure I was safe, which I always was.

Nico and Pedro shared a hollow that I constantly had to remind them to keep it clean, and make it look like it was possible to live there. But boys will be boys. Rafael had met a pretty female toucan by the name of Eva and they had moved in together. Tadeo had apparently found Kingdom Paradise and this was his last hurrah before he returned to his girl, Arianna.

When he told us about it though we had laughed in his face. "It's not a real place man!" Pedro had been rolling on the ground from laughing.

"Is so! Look!" With that Tadeo had shown us drawings he had done. They weren't your normal imaginative drawings. They had been full of miniscule details; birds, trees, flowers, rivers and waterfalls. But the most amazing picture he had was of the palace. It was an enormous tree with branchy turrets and towers, and a suspended walkway that functioned as a wall. "See?" He had asked our shocked faces.

"Wow." I had breathed and taken the palace picture out of his wings. "Can we come with you?"

"Yeah! I wanna see this!" Nico had agreed.

"I'm afraid that you cannot. There is a barrier and if you come in with no reason except to see it, you'll be stuck there forever. You'd never see Rio again." And with that the conversation had come to a close. But not before Tadeo gave me the palace drawing as a token to remember him by. It now hung in my room, in _my_ hollow. Oh how I loved those words!

Now we were at The Branch closing it down. It had to be almost two in the morning and we were all still going strong. _"Cause we gonna rock this club, we gonna go all night! We gonna light it up like its dy-no-mite!"_ Pedro finished, with his fist in the air. We all cheered like crazy for the amazing performance the cardinal had just put on.

"Wooooo! Go Pedro!" I screamed and clapped.

"Way to go bro!" Nico told him as he landed by us and the brothers shared a wing bump.

"Thanks man! I've been working on that one for months now!" He panted trying to catch his breath from the awesome break dancing he had done.

"It rocked!" Tadeo said with a smile. Then the DJ flew down from his perch and spoke to the crowd.

"I say we have time for one more song. What do you birds say?" The DJ called to the rest of us in the club and we all cheered our approval. I looked at our friends and we were all smiling, but the boys had a suspicious twinkle in their eyes. "Who wants to take it?" Rafael asked with a knowing look on his face.

"Oh! Pick me!" Tadeo crowed and flew up to the stage, after a teasing wink at Nico and I.

"What is he up to?" I wondered aloud and looked to Nico.

"You'll see." Nico smiled, "Let's just say I've got a little surprise for you." And with that he spun me out onto the, now clear, dance floor. I stood at one end, my right leg and hip cocked towards the stage and my head pointed downward, and Nico at the other. He stood with his shoulders drawn back, and his head bent forward so I couldn't see his eyes, only the shining top of his bottle cap. Then the music started with the mysterious strumming of an acoustic guitar, and the shaking of a few maracas. Then the drums jumped in, accompanied by a tambourine, and the lights flashed on. I snapped my head up as they did, and began to stride towards Nico, he mirroring my movements.

Then Tadeo whispered the first few lines, _"Esta noche bailamos. __Te doy toda mi vida. __Quedate conmigo."_ There was a few seconds pause as I spun around insanely fast, just a blur of golden feathers, until Nico snagged my wing and snapped me to a halt. Gently he held me in his wings and smirked as Tadeo continued. _"Tonight we dance; I lay my life in your hands. We take the floor; nothing is forbidden anymore. Don't let the world in outside; don't let a moment go by. Nothing can stop us tonight! Bailamos! Let the rhythm take you over. __Bailamos! Te quiero amor mio! Bailamos! Gonna live this night forever; bailamos! Te quiero amor mio, te quiero!"_

Again the beat jumped and Nico backed away shimmying as I copied the upper body movement, along with some well-practiced, quick steps that over exaggerated the twisting of my hips and made a few other boys whistle. Then we reversed it and he took my wing so we could share the fancy footwork. We glided across the floor and I spun my hips in then out quickly over and over, so I faced him then faced the crowd. Then he spun me out and I placed my wing behind his head as the lyrics continued.

"_Tonight I'm yours; we can make this happen, I'm so sure. Now I'm letting go; there's something I think you should know…" _ Nico smiled and left me for a moment to hover above the crowd and sing the next few lines.

"_I won't be leaving your side! We're gonna dance through the night! I wanna reach for the stars!" _Then he circled around me and spun me in tightly. We paused and I kicked my foot high towards the crowd. We feigned to turn back in, but Nico turned me back and I preformed another kick.

And it was back to Tadeo, who was beaming at us like the rest of our friends, _"Bailamos! Let the rhythm take you over. Bailamos! Te quiero amor mio! __Bailamos! Gonna live this night forever; bailamos! Te quiero amor mio, te quiero!" _

Then the crowd joined in to add effect to the song, as they sang, _"Whoa-oh-a-oh!"_

And Tadeo speaking the words with a thick accent, _"Tonight we dance,"_

"_Whoa-oh-a-oh!" _I was back to the quick swiveling of my hips and I was starting to feel out of breath.

"_Like no tomorrow."_

"_Whoa-oh-a-oh!" _

"_If you will stay with me…"_

Then Nico spun me in tighter than before and dipped me almost to the ground as he whispered, _"Te quiero, mi amor!" _I grinned and kissed him quickly before he spun me out and we returned to dancing. He stepped quickly backwards and I stood stiffly upright, while again swerving my hips in an abdominally burning motion. I made it to him and he spun me around and back a few times keeping with the lively beat. After jolting me into position he paused and pulled me closer, so our faces were inches apart, and breathed, _"Quedate conmigo, esta noche, quedate mi cielo." _

I could see that this whole thing he had planned out, practiced, and ready to show me. Nico had worked his tail feathers off to learn this insanely complicated dance and song, just for me. I would never look back from what was coursing through my thoughts: _I love him. I love him more than anything in the world!_ Then back to the snappy dance.

"_Bailamos! Let the rhythm take you over, bailamos! __Te quiero amor mio! Bailamos! Gonna live this night forever, bailamos! Te quiero amor mio! Bailamos! Let the rhythm take you over (Crowd in the background: Como te quiero, como te quiero) Bailamos! Te quiero amor mio (Como te quiero, como te quiero) Bailamos! Gonna live this night forever (Como te quiero, como te quiero) Bailamos! __Te quiero amor mio, te quiero!" _The music faded out and Nico twirled me around multiple times before bringing me to a stop.

Going along with the dramatic aura that was on the dance floor I wrapped my left leg around Nico's hips and cradled his face in my wings. Ever so gently he lifted me up off the floor and spun around, not looking away from my eyes as he did so. With a soft grunt he tossed me gently upwards and wrapped his wings around my waist to catch me. Smoothly he knelt and held me over his knee as I stretched back and touched the top of my head to the dance floor.

The crowd went absolutely feral. I'm not even kidding you! I thought I couldn't hear myself think after beating Ana, but this was at least ten times louder. I smiled and laughed, still upside down in Nico's embrace. Carefully I sat up and wrapped my wings around my partner's neck. "I love you. I love you so much!" I had to almost scream over the roar of the crowd.

"I love _you_ so much!" Nico replied and squeezed me tighter. Ever so slowly the crowd quieted down and my sunbeam and I stood up.

"Lookie here boys! I think I've got myself one heck of a dance partner!" I said causing everyone to laugh. Then I wrapped my wing around his waist and Nico wrapped his around my shoulders.

"Seems you do." Tadeo said soaring down from the stage.

"That song was amazing!" I told him.

"Nico had it picked out." He winked at my partner.

"He's been working on this dance for weeks!" Pedro exclaimed. "Everything from the steps, to the music, to the theatrical effect. It was all this guy." The cardinal punched his wing in a friendly sort of way.

"I told you I needed work on my solo act, but this was definitely harder than any solo act I have EVER worked on." Nico smirked, "But it was so worth it." To my great shock he grabbed my wing, whirled me around, and pulled me to him. I gave him a devilish look, and placed my wings on his chest.

"You think you get a prize for the dance?" I said quietly, highly aware that the whole club was watching us intently.

"That would be nice. After all I worked _so_ hard." He put on the big puppy dog eyes, and I had to laugh a little bit. Then I leaned forward and kissed him sweetly, as my eyes fluttered closed and my stomach did a backflip. The club "awed" and a few cheered; Pedro on the other hand gagged and I heard him fly away. We stepped apart and we both half laughed in a giddy kind of way when we looked into each other's eyes.

"You'll see man. One day you'll find a completely amazing girl, and your world will never be the same." Nico told him and Rafael and Tadeo nodded their approval of this statement.

"Alright party birds! Thank you for a spectacular night, and let's give a Rio good bye to our very own Tadeo. Seems he's found his life in another place that he needs to be. We'll miss you buddy!" The DJ said and we cheered one last time for the Bird of Paradise. "Bom noche (good night {Portuguese})!"

"See you guys tomorrow!" Rafael called over his shoulder and followed Eva out the door.

"Bye Ralphy!" I called and waved. "Come on boys. Let's hit the sky." I smiled at my three best friends and they followed me out into the crisp night air. Soon we were gliding through the jungle and Tadeo soared up next to me.

"I'm gonna miss you Sunshine." He told me with a small smile.

"Aw Taddy! Don't act like we're never gonna see each other again! You'll get to visit on Carnival won't you?" I said trying to keep from crying. I had known Tadeo since we were just fledglings in grade school, and our friendship was sibling-like. He was the older brother I had never had.

"Of course!" He grinned. "And I'm gonna want to meet your chicks." My eyes just about popped out of my head when he said that.

"What?" I gasped.

"Of course! When you two have chicks I'm going to want to meet them."

"Shhhh! I may never have chicks! Nico and I haven't even touched on the subject!" I slapped his wing. He just rolled his eyes and flared his wings to land on the front branch of Canary Corner. We stood there for a moment, not wanting to say goodbye.

"Sweet Dreams." Tadeo extended a wing to shake, but I ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Take care of yourself." I murmured into his feathers.

"I will. You too." He replied and squeezed me like any brother would when saying goodbye to his sister. Then we stepped apart and I saw a sad glitter in his eyes. "Remember that anything is possible with samba and an open heart." With that Tadeo spread his wings and flew away before the moment turned into a sob fest. I wiped my eyes and turned to walk into my hollow.

"Wait!" Nico then landed behind me, bottle cap cock-eyed on his head.

"Hmm?" I turned around and sniffled. Immediately concern was plastered on his face.

"What's wrong?" My little sunbeam asked brushing a few feathers out of my eyes.

"I'm just a little emotional about Tadeo leaving. He's like my big brother." I sniffled again. Nico pulled me into a hug and let me cry a few soft tears. "Wow I must look like a total sap-story." I giggled and stepped back.

"A very cute sap-story." He replied and I giggled again while wiping away my tears.

"Where's Pedro?" I asked and led Nico into my hollow.

"He went back to the hollow."

"Oh." Then I smirked, "And you didn't want to go with him?"

"Nope." Nico beamed and wrapped his wing around me. "I had to see my girl one last time before turning in for the night."

"Aw aren't you sweet?" I gave him a quick kiss and looked around. When my eyes came to my room and my nest I got an idea. "You know…" how was I gonna put this so it didn't sound weird? "You don't have to go."

"I don't?" Nico cocked his head to the side, confused.

"Well I am in a state of emotional trauma," We chuckled, "And my mom used to sing me to sleep while I curled up next to her, to make me feel better."

"Oh really?" A little twinkle came to those amber brown eyes as he got what I was trying to say.

"Really." I replied matter of factly.

"So you want me to sing you to sleep?"

"Pwetty pwease?" I batted my eyelashes and put on a little pout.

"Ok doll face, put the eyes away before the cuteness becomes painful." He poked my side and I laughed. Then together we glided to my soft nest, where we snuggled in and I nuzzled my head into his soft chest feathers. I could hear his heartbeat, strong and steady, where my head lay. Then he wrapped a wing around me and asked, in a soft tone, "What song do you want?"

"Any song you want." I replied sleepily, feeling warm and secure. There was a pause as he thought for a moment, then he hummed a low note and began to sing.

"_Every time our eyes meet, this feeling inside me is almost more than I can take. Baby when you touch me, I can feel how much you love me, and it just blows me away. I've never been this close to anyone or anything. I can hear your thoughts; I can see your dreams! I don't know how you do what you do, I'm so in love with you! It just keeps gettin' better. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you by my side; forever and ever! Every little thing that you do; baby I'm amazed by you!" _

I didn't hear any more of the song after that. The deep bass of his melodic voice floated through my ears and shut down my brain completely. I snuggled in closer to him and sighed contentedly when he stopped though, and I heard him whisper, "I love you more than anything, my sunshine."

* * *

><p><strong>Oh my holy goodness! They are so adorable! Am I right?<strong>


	11. Chapter 11: Kicked Out

**Chapter 11**

**Kicked Out**

I woke the next morning not totally remembering where I was. I looked around and saw, well first off, I saw the floor. My hollow was always cluttered and Sonny would tease Pedro and I relentlessly; telling us that there was no floor in our hollow at all. Then I noticed that there were all sorts of flowers, whose scent was very fresh and gave the room an enchanted feel. This accompanied by a little vanity, and that drawing of the Kingdom Paradise palace Tadeo had shown us. A little window that was framed by more flowering vines was just behind me and I could hear the sounds of the waking jungle as they floated through.

All of the sudden there was a soft, feminine snore that came from my right, and I realized that my wing was wrapped around something. Looking down I saw the top of Sonny's head resting on my chest. Her face was serine, still asleep, and a dreamy smile played on her beak. _Right! I spent the night._ I remembered, mentally face palming and smiling. She stirred a little bit, nestled closer under my wing, and sighed contentedly.

I couldn't help but quietly chuckle. _She's so loveable!_ I mean what's _not_ to love about the perfect girl snuggled up next to you first thing in the morning? I sat there for a little while longer, just living in the quiet moment. This was what I wanted to wake up to every day for the rest of my life.

I pulled my bottle cap over my eyes, and was about to drift back to sleep, when Sonny opened her eyes slowly, blinking a few times to help them adjust. I pretended not to notice as she looked around and yawned. Then she looked up to me and beamed. "He stayed all night." She murmured to herself and half laughed. Gently she nuzzled her head up under my chin, making my stomach tie itself in knots, and I grumbled a few inaudible words.

"Niiii-co." She spoke in a sing-song way that made my heart feel warm.

"Hmm?" I hummed and opened my eyes. Sonny pushed the bottle cap back and I fell into those sparkling green gems with a sleepy smile.

"You stayed all night." With that she kissed me affectionately, causing my heart to pound against my rib cage.

"Well if this is what I get to wake up to, I'm moving in." I shot her a wink and she giggled. Leaning her head back on my chest she sighed. "Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No. Nothing could be wrong about this." She replied, and we both laughed. "I was just thinking…"

"Oh boy! Here we go." I squeezed her shoulders and chuckled. She rolled her eyes and smirked at me.

"Haha. Very funny." Was she trying to change the subject?

"So what were you thinking about?"

"Well, Tadeo just mentioned something last night and it just kinda stuck in my mind."

"What?" She took a deep breath, as though working up the courage to voice her thoughts.

"Have you ever thought about having a family?" *Que ton of bricks dropping on my head* My eyes got really wide and I looked at her in a funny way. Then she blushed madly and her eyes got wide. "No! Not _right_ now! I mean…In the future?"

"Oh." I rubbed the back of my neck with my free wing. "Well, I guess a little bit…" That caught me completely by surprise. A family? Sure we all knew that we would find a mate and have chicks, but it never occurred to me that I was _actually_ going to have to do that someday.

"I'm sorry. I just ruined everything." Sonora looked down and scooted away. I softened my gaze and pulled her back.

"You couldn't ruin anything if you tried." I kissed her cheek. "It just caught me by surprise is all."

"Yeah. But now you think I'm some sort of cuckoo." She grumbled.

"Sure, but you're _my_ cuckoo." This earned me a smile and a quick little kiss.

"I'm sorry. I should have thought about it more before saying anything."

"No apology necessary." I replied. "I have thought about it… But we'll talk about it again later. Kay?"

"Ok." Sonny smiled and stood. "So what's for breakfast?"

"Well…" I shrugged and followed her into the kitchen. "How about…" I looked around and spotted a jar full to the brim with bird seed. "How did you get this much seed?" I picked it up and my jaw dropped open.

"There's a store in the rich part of town that always has this stuff. I just take my jar and fill it up when it runs low. You want some?" She grabbed a few leaf bowls and handed me one.

"YES!" I exclaimed and she laughed, which made me falter. Just as she turned sunlight filtering through the window glinted off her golden feathers and she flipped a few stray feathers behind her head. That added together with her laugh made my knees feel weak.

"What?" She smiled and I didn't realize that I was staring.

"Nothing." I smirked and sidled over to the table with a bowl full of grain.

"You can't keep secrets from me Nico," She said with a smile in her lyrical voice.

"Oh sure I can." I waved a wing and flopped down in a chair, with a playful glare on my face. Sonora put on a vixen grin and walked over to sit beside me.

"So you're saying you'd keep a secret from me?" Sonny's face didn't change, and instead of sitting on a chair, she came and sat on my lap. With a wing wrapped around my neck, and hooded green eyes, she again made my heart pound and I was beginning to feel a little hot.

"Umm… no. I…I just was trying t…to play around and you see." _And out walked his brain; never to return._ I thought. I _never_ stuttered. EVER. This girl sure was special if she could make my entire brain shut down just by giving me a little look.

"Oh really?" Now her face was inches away from mine and I still had no words. I opened my beak, but nothing came out except a little squeak. "Well how about we make it even?" I swore she was going to lean in and kiss me, so I leaned forward and closed my eyes. But what I got was a face full of Canary Corner floor, and a riot of laughter from Sonny. "Got you!" She giggled as I picked myself up and dusted my feathers off.

"Oh now you're gonna get it!" I roared and chased her around and around the counter, until she took off flying through the front door. I followed and called after her, "Last one to the beach is a rotten egg!" Then pumped my wings in the direction of the sugar sand and pounding waves.

* * *

><p>"Cheater!" I cawed and flapped my wings hard to catch him. He changed course, to make me have to turn around, thus making me slow down. Soon I had regained my momentum, and shot through the jungle, barely missing a few slow morning flyers as I did. "Typical east-sider!" I screamed at his fleeing form.<p>

"Typical Hot Wing," He called back. "You started it and now you can't finish it!"

"We shall see about that." I grumbled and tried to fly even faster. We were getting closer to our finish line, and I watched Nico duck behind a tall palm tree and peek back to see if I was following him. I tilted my wings, and spiraled upwards to soar behind him. He didn't see me and a silly devilish look came to his face as he crouched to wait.

As silently as I could I landed behind him. Nico took no notice. Carefully I reached over and snatched the teal-green bottle cap off his head. With a whirl of yellow feathers he spun around, and before he could identify who I was, I kissed him full on and took to the sky, slapping the cap on _my_ head.

"Darn you Sonny! Give me my hat back!" Nico called, false anger in his tone. He stabbed a pointer feather at the ground next to him, pointing to where he wanted me to land. I just smiled.

"Come and get it!" I crowed and turned tail, with a panicked squeal, and zoomed towards the beach.

"I'm gonna get you!" He cried and I heard him take off. Soon it was just us, two drops of sunshine, fighting over the much loved bottle cap. We soared over the waves and through the clouds trying to, either, catch or evade the other. I kept away with insane, complicated, and last-second, lightning fast maneuvers, but, to my great shock, Nico couldn't seem to keep up.

After a while I noticed Nico had disappeared, I couldn't hear his wings beating, or his taunts. Pausing, I looked around. I couldn't find my little speck of sunshine anywhere. Hovering high over the waves I tipped the stolen hat back and looked up. Coming at me, in a full out dive, was a self-satisfied looking Nico. I screamed and struggled to flap out of the way.

Unfortunately I was too slow, and Nico crashed into me. "Are you out of your mind?" I shrieked as we spun around, and started falling; our wings wrapped around each other.

"Maybe," He crooned as we fell. "I'm in love with you after all." My heart fluttered and he kissed me ardently, pulling me closer to his feathered body. For a moment we seemed to stop falling, and were floating. It felt like our two hearts were beating as one.

When we pulled back we both had a drunken smile on our faces. "I love you." We whispered together. Just then we snapped out of the smitten coma as the sound of the waves rushed into our ears. With a wink Nico gently, but forcefully, tossed me to the side with a spin. I rolled over and double checked that the bottle cap was still on my head. At the same moment we opened our wings, caught a warm updraft, and spiraled upwards. Higher and higher we soared, and through the rushing wind I caught the melodic voice of my Nico singing, _"It's taking me higher, higher, higher off the ground!"_ I laughed and let his voice sink in. It was so rich, so sweet. It almost made me dizzy.

"I hope you never stop singing!" I tell him as we leveled off.

"As you wish!" Nico replied in a sing-song voice. I rolled my meadow green eyes and smiled. _"Here we go."_ He began and lead me to a little ledge. _"Come with me. There's a world out there we need to see. Take my wing. Close your eyes. With you right here I'm a rocketeer! Let's flyiiiiii!"_ He harmonized. This was one of his favorite songs to sing, and he hit every note perfectly.

I landed on the cliff and closed my eyes. Nico continued to sing and lead me around in a slow dance. His wings stayed in mine, but occasionally moved to my hips or back to accomplish moves. "You're very light on your feet senhorita (miss {Portuguese})." My sunbeam crooned placing my wing, face up, against his. I flutter my eyes back open and see an ornery, flirtatious look in his warm amber ones.

"Why thank you senhor (sir {Portuguese}). You're not too bad yourself." I giggled in my wing, and batted my eyes.

"Obrigado (thank you {Portuguese}). I try my best."

"You succeed." Then I gave him a quick kiss. The little scamp shot off the ledge and performed a bunch of loops, dives, and body rolls. All of this while hooping and hollering like he had just won the lottery.

"Hey Rio!" He screamed to the ocean and hovered by the ledge as I blushed at his display. "The most amazing girl in the world just kissed me! And she's standing right there!" He spun around and gestured to me with his wings. I closed my eyes and shook my head.

"Ok ok." I chided. "They get it." With a bright smile Nico landed by me again, his bottle cap bouncing off the top of his head as he touched down.

"No, they'll never get it," He took my wings in his, "Because they'll never have you." My eyes stung at the sincerity of his tone.

"Stop, you're gonna make me cry." I fanned my face with my wing to keep the tears from falling.

"I'm afraid I just can't do that." Again Nico was dead-serious. I smiled and blinked a few times to keep the tears away. "Eu te amo mais do que qualquer coisa que eu já amei na minha vida (I love you more than anything I've ever loved in my life {Portuguese})." Our native tongue floated in his voice making his words sound profound, never to be taken back.

"Eu te amo tambem." I replied quietly and hugged him tightly. We stayed there on the ledge, slowly dancing around for a while longer in the morning sunshine.

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><p>"You understand what's going on?" Phillip asked the parakeet he had held by the throat in a dark alley.<p>

"It's wrong! The Three Amigos are the best we've got! I can't tell them they can't perform here, nobody will come to the club!" He gasped as the macaw tightened his grip.

"You have no choice I'm afraid." Ana said as she hopped up next to her partner. "You don't do exactly what we say, you're going to end up like Antonio." Her voice was sweet, but her words stung at the little green bird's ears.

"I've done nothing to anyone! I'm not going to get soda dumped on my head!"

"How naïve," Phillip rolled his eyes and threw the owner of The Branch, Raymond, on the ground, "Said bird is deeper than, a cup of soda dumped on his head by a fiery little canary, in trouble." Indigo wings were spread wide and they blocked out what little sun shone in the alley.

"He has been replaced." The rainbow lorikeet smiled in a devilish way and she and Phillip laughed. A huge shadow came up behind them. "It's my pleasure to introduce to you, Luís. He's been brought here from a long way away to help us out." Ana explained.

"He'll be acting as a bouncer for you tonight, and he will make sure that you follow through on our little conversation. Otherwise…" Phillip drew a claw across his throat and the 20 inch tall Spotted Owl chuckled at the parakeet's pale face.

"I'd like a job application señor Raymond." Luís extended a gleaming talon to shake and Raymond fainted.

"So sorry, these birds aren't used to you yet." Ana crooned and proceeded to drag a tarp over the unconscious parakeet, with help from Phillip.

"Don't worry dear, I'm used to it." Luís replied and he and Phillip shared an evil look.

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><p><strong>WHHHHHAAAAATTTTTT? Kicked out of The Branch? oh you'll see! This is all part of my plan! XD<strong>


	12. Chapter 12: Stuck Like Glue

**HEY GUYS! SORRY I was like dead for the past several weeks...I had a horrible case of writers block...So now I'm back and The suspense will rise! lol**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

**Stuck Like Glue**

"What do you mean we can't go in?" I shouted in the smug face of the dumb Spotted Owl that was standing outside of The Branch. Nico and Pedro were holding my wings back so I wouldn't start a fight with the enormous bird.

"I mean just that." He snipped, "You three have been banned from this club."

"Where's Raymond?" I demanded, "Ray! Get out here!" I screamed into the club and Nico slapped a wing over my beak.

"Babe, you're making a scene." He murmured in my ear as I struggled to free myself. I looked around and saw birds staring; rolling my eyes I nodded and Nico let me go.

"Listen here, bud," I took a step forward, but Pedro was still holding my fore-wing tentatively. I shot him a stern look and he dropped it with a pleading look on his face. Then I turned back to the owl, "We'll perform here if we want to. Ask anybird, they'll _want_ us to." I gestured to other birds that were packing into the club, and several nodded their agreement. The owl sighed, as if board, and rubbed the bridge of his beak with his long, curved talons.

"Listen, missy," he looked at me with disgust, "I have orders to keep you three out, and I'm gonna do just that." I tried to dodge around him, but he grabbed my wing, twisted it painfully, making me yelp, and threw me back harshly.

"Don't touch her!" Nico growled as he and Pedro jumped forward to catch me. I almost hit the ground when his wings wrapped around my chest and pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks." I gave him a small smile.

"Anytime." Nico winked at me, making my heart flutter, and we turned back to the owl as he spoke again.

"If you try anything funny, there _will_ be consequences." He stabbed a talon at us, but we didn't flinch. In fact, he only succeeded in rubbing our feathers further in the wrong direction.

"Uh-huh." I thought for a moment, then snapped my head up and pointed at the sky, "LOOK! An eagle!" I cried and ran past the owl, with my boys in tow, when he looked to the sky. Instantly we dove into the crowd and disappeared from the bouncer's view.

"Shoot!" We heard him say and laughed.

"We schooled him!" Pedro chuckled jerking his wings in front of him in an attempt to look cool.

"An eagle? Really?" Nico smiled at me as he spoke.

"Eh," I shrugged, "We used to say that all the time in grade school just so we could get away in tag." I brushed invisible dust off my shoulder. "Seems it was useful."

"Not to mention funny!" Ralphy joined us.

"Hey Ralph-ay!" We chorused and shared a wing bump with our toucan friend.

"I was about to do something, but you pulled that," He gestured to me with his wings, "And I 'bout died laughing!" Then he gave me a playful nudge with his brightly colored beak.

"Yeah." I sighed puffing out my chest and cocking my shoulders back, "I know I'm awesome." Then, I half-kneeled and slid my flight feathers along the rim of a hat I wasn't wearing. My friends laughed at me again and Nico took my wing.

"You have no idea." He told me softly.

"And what are you buttering me up for?" I smiled and gave him a little kiss. Then he tilted his head towards the stage.

"I wanna sing. Care to join me?" He asked, amber brown eyes twinkling with an undeniable joy. He wanted to show off our new song, and I couldn't blame him.

"Hmm. Duet? Dance?" I held my wings in front of me, moving them up and down as though weighing my options on a scale, and my face was twisted as though deep in thought. With a chuckle Nico took both of my wings and held them gently.

"We could do both…" Here came the puppy dog eyes; his gorgeous brown eyes got bigger and he teared up a little. Then he put on a little pout and batted his eyes.

"Ok ok! Don't hurt yourself!" I covered his face with my wing and rubbed it around making the sad-eyes go away. He chuckled and kissed my palm before smacking my wing away.

"Let's go then!" He dragged me into the air and we flew up to the stage.

But just before we got out of hearing, I heard Raphael say, "They are just perfect together, you know?"

_You have no idea._ I thought with a smile. Nico told the DJ our song, and the bird nodded. _If we're banned, why didn't the DJ say anything?_ I wondered. _Oh well. That owl is just crazy. _Then I landed next to Nico and addressed the crowd. "Hey Ipanima birds!" I called and they cheered at seeing us on the stage. After a moment I waved a wing for them to quiet down, "Ok ok. Thank you! Now, Nico and I have been working on a new song, and we think you're really going to like it…" Then I was drowned out by more cheering, and rolled my eyes and looked to Nico for help.

He grinned and stepped up next to me. "It's called Stuck Like Glue!" He called simply above the roar, and turned to me, "Just like me and you." I giggled and we flew to opposite sides of the stage. The music started out with some mouthy sounds and the back sound of someone thumping the wooden part of a human guitar. Then the guitar started to strum, and I hummed, _"Mmm better! Mmm better!" _Then lights illuminated the stage and Nico and I walked towards each other nonchalantly. My eyes were dancing around the stage looking at everything, but occasionally they would meet with Nico's. With a warm smile, I started singing.

"_Absolutely nobody knows me better! No one that can make me feel so good! How did we stay so long together; when everybody, everybody said we never would?" _We both shrugged and danced around each other, flourishing our wings, _"And just when I start to think they're right; that love has died…" _I turned to face him directly on center stage and together we soared into the chorus together, and some flighty dancing.

"_There you go making my heart beat again, heart beat again, heart beat again."_ We held our wings over our hearts and pumped them out and back, like a beating heart. _"There you go makin' me feel like a kid;" _We placed a pointer feather on each of our cheeks like we had dimples, and turned to the crowd, _"Won't you do it, do it one time?" _We stepped to the right then hopped, and repeated, _"There you go pullin' me right back in, right back in, right back in!"_

Then back to just me, _"And I know, I'm never letting this go…" _Nico and I spun around and pointed at each other while I sang, _"I'm stuck on you!" _Then together with a wing wrapped around each other's shoulders, _"Wha-oh Wha-oh stuck like glue! (clap) You and me baby we're stuck like glue. (clap) Wha-oh Wha-oh stuck like glue! (clap) _ _You and me baby we're stuck like glue! (clap)"_ The crowd was immediately involved, and I noticed every bird had paired off and was dancing with their partner like Nico and I were. Even Pedro had found Patty and was dancing with her, in a friendly sort of way.

I scampered over to a little can and sat down with my legs crossed and nodded my head back and forth as I sang, _"Some days I don't feel like tryin'."_ I buried my face in my wings, _"Some days, you know I wanna just give up," _I slumped over, _"When it doesn't matter who's right, fight about it all night. Had enough." _I shook my head and waved my wings in an "I'm finished" kind of way. Then Nico flew up to me and grabbed me under my wings, spun me around, and stopped me with a new, beaming smile on my face.

"_You give me that look," _I pointed to him, and he had a flirtatious little grin on his face, his bottle cap pulled down over his right eye, _"'I'm sorry baby, let's make up.'" _I shrugged and pulled him to me for a quick kiss. As we pulled back he spun me out and continued to sing.

"_You do that thing that makes me laugh," _We both posed in crazy forms and the whole crowd laughed at us, _"And just like that," _I snapped my feathers and again we belted into the chorus; Nico's rich bass voice blending harmoniously with my lyrical alto and making my ears ring. _"There you go making my heart beat again, heart beat again, heart beat again. There you go makin' me feel like a kid; won't you do it, do it one time?_ _There you go pullin' me right back in, right back in, right back in! And I know, I'm never letting this go! I'm stuck on you! Wha-oh Wha-oh stuck like glue (clap)! You and me baby we're stuck like glue (clap)! Wha-oh Wha-oh stuck like glue (clap)! You and me baby we're stuck like glue (clap)!"_

The music changed, and Patty and Josie joined me on stage for a few moves as I sang to Nico, who just smirked at me adoringly. _"Wha-oh Wha-oh you almost fell; two stuck together from the A-T-L. Wha-oh Wha-oh feeling kinda sick?" _I shrugged my wings in a questioning way and Nico nodded holding his stomach. I grabbed a little spoon and handed it to him as I sang the next part, _"Just a spoon full of sugar make it better real quick, I say; Wha-oh Wha-oh, what ya gonna do with that? Wha-oh Wha-oh, come on over here with that,"_ I motioned "come here" with my pointer feather and Nico and I shimmied towards each other.

"_Sugar, sticky, sweet stuff; come on give me that stuff. Everybody want some. Melodies'll get stuck; up in your head." _We wound our wings around our heads as though we were crazy, and earned a few laughs from the crowd,_ "Wha-oh Wha-oh up in your head. Wha-oh Wha-oh, up in your head. Wha-oh Wha-oh, Wha-oh Wha-oh, stuck like glue," _then I grabbed Nico's wing and spun him to me, then wrapped my wings around his neck as I sang the next part quickly, _"You and me together, say it's all I wanna do!"_

And both of us together singing our hearts out, and dancing like before _"I said, there you go making my heart beat again, heart beat again, heart beat again. There you go makin' me feel like a kid; won't you do it, do it one time?_ _There you go pullin' me right back in, right back in, right back in! And I know, I'm never letting this go!"_

We repeated the chorus as Patty and Josie left the stage. As they did, I noticed a weird blue flash by the door, but figured it was just somebird leaving because they needed some air. Before I could think about it further, Nico grabbed my wing and twirled me to him to finish out the song in out richest voices, _"Wha-oh, wha-oh, stuck like glue! You and me baby, we're stuck like glue!" _The lights went out as we snapped our gaze to each other, and the music came to a halt. It had gone just like we had practiced; perfect! Up until, while the lights were still out, Nico pressed his beak to mine and kissed me with more passion than ever before. I was kinda glad the lights were still out, as I ran my wings from the back of his neck to the back of his head and pulled him closer to me.

Still before the lights came back on, we pulled apart, but we were holding each other tightly. I couldn't see my little sunbeam, but I just knew he was smiling. "Holy wow, I love you!" He breathed.

"Not near as much as I love you!" I replied and hugged him tightly as the lights finally came back on. "Thank you Rio!" We called and took off the stage to find our friends. Strangely we only saw Patty and Josie.

As we landed by them, Nico asked, "Where's Pedro?"

"I don't really know. One second he's next to me, and the next he was gone." Patty explained.

"Perhaps he needed air?" Josie suggested with a shrug.

"Weird…" I mumbled. Nico, on the other wing, was super paranoid. I could tell by the way he was fidgeting. Taking his wing in mine I could almost feel the emotions course through his feathers. "Why don't you take a look around? I'll stay here in case he comes back." I suggested and stroked his wing with mine.

"Ok. I'll be right back." He smiled, but before taking off he kissed me again, leaving me a little surprised.

"AWWW!" My girls chorused.

"I've told you guys I love him to bits and pieces right?" I asked and watched Nico fly away.

"Over a million times, but it never gets old." Josie sighed. I grinned and looked around. I noticed a few new performers coming to the stage and bobbed my head to the beat. Then above us I saw a flash of green, and it was Ray!

"RAYMOND!" I called and waved to him. He paused and turned in our direction with a look of horror on his face. Quickly he flew over to us and landed.

"What, in the name of feathers, are you doing here?" He gasped. Emotion overwhelmed me, and I furrowed my brow and pursed my beak.

"What do you mean? We're welcome here aren't we?" Twisting my wing to get my point across, I placed it gently on his shoulder.

"Of course…" Ray looked away from my gaze.

"You know that there was an owl outside when we got here?" I asked him.

"He's here?" The parakeet mumbled, terrified. Then he looked around, panicked, and squeaked, "Where are Nico and Pedro?"

"Pedro disappeared and Nico went to look for him." I was thoroughly confused, and panic flared in my heart at this anxiety from the, usually very relaxed, owner of the club.

"You need to find them. Now!" He shoved me into the air. "Get them and go back to Canary Corner. I'll explain all of this later, but you have to go! Now!"

"Ok ok." I waved a wing and took off on the direction Nico had gone. _This is way weird! _I thought as I searched the sea of feathers for the shining bottle cap of my Nico. Quickly I spotted him, and Pedro, at the bar talking to some friends. Inwardly I sighed. _Thank goodness! _I landed next to Nico and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thought you said you'd be right back." I fake-pouted and held his wing.

"Sorry sweetie. I got to talkin' with the boys here and took longer than I thought." He returned the kiss and I giggled.

"I know this is gonna sound weird, but we need to leave." Both boys gave me a confused look.

"Why?" Pedro shrugged, "The party's just gettin' started."

"It's weird I know," I replied, still confused myself, "But I found Ray and he told me to come find you guys and to go back to Canary Corner."

"You found Ray?" The cardinal asked, brown eyes wide.

"Did you ask him about the owl?" Nico inquired, looking me in the eye.

"Yeah," I looked back and forth between my boys as I spoke, "It was really weird; Ray got all freaked out and panic-y… So I figured I'd get you guys and we'd go."

"Hmm…" Nico placed his free wing under his chin and thought a moment. "You're right; that is really peculiar."

"I really think we should go." I was starting to get jumpy. Nico could tell by the way I clung to him. He looked at me and his gaze softened as he turned my beak to him.

"Ok baby bird, we'll go." My sunbeam crooned and I smiled at him.

"You're a love-struck sap, you know that?" Pedro sighed and set down his leaf cup.

"I'm really sorry Pedro." I apologized to my downed friend. "We'll come back soon, after this clears up a bit."

"Ok…" Pedro sighed, and I planted a kiss on his cheek.

"Thanks bro." I said and we snuck out the back of the club and across the city into the jungle. The boys flew protectively on either side of me until the, very welcome, sight of my front branch came into view. Together we landed and Pedro turned to leave.

"Well, I'm gonna go…" He spread his wings to leave, but I grabbed his wing.

"Please stay," I begged, "It's too dark to see, and I don't know what I would do if something happened to you."

"Alright, but I don't wanna hear nothin' comin' from that nest!" He teased and Nico and I blushed madly.

"Dude! Come on!" Nico punched his wing as we walked into the hollow.

"Fine," Pedro sighed with one last wink at us, "But I'm serious." I rolled my eyes.

"Night Pedro." I shooed him towards the guest room and pulled Nico to our nest with me.

"You're eager to get in the nest." My sunshine joked as he snuggled in next to me.

"Nah, I'm just cold." I shivered and pulled his wing around my body.

"Mhm…" He chuckled and pulled me closer to his body. It felt good, and I felt perfectly secure. "You want me to serenade you again?" Nico breathed in my ear.

"That would be nice." I snuggled my head in his chest feathers and he sang me a little song while I fell asleep to the sound of his heartbeat.


	13. Chapter 13: Safe Or Not?

**Holy Wow peeps...I'm so sorry. This took waaaaay to long and I highly apologize. Nico and Sonny are dreading whats coming as much as I am, therefore delaying it as much as possible, and it's been terrible. But here is Chapter 13 and I hope you like it...Heaven knows it took me long enough... so enough out of me, and here we go.**

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><p><strong>Chapter 13<strong>

**Safe...or not?**

For the next several days, Nico, Pedro and I stayed out of the city, and close around our hollows. Mainly we waited for Ray to come, and tell us about the whole situation with the owl, but he never came. We were all really worried, and hoped that nothing bad had happened to him. As of yet, I was in Canary Corner, alone, subconsciously pacing near the front door.

Nico and Pedro had gone off to Pedro's hollow to check it out. It was broad daylight, and we figured nothing would happen. So with my worry for Ray, I was worrying about my boys, who had been gone for an hour.

"Now just calm down; they'll be back in a little bit. Nothing's gonna happen…" I looked out the window again, and saw nothing…again. My biggest fear was losing them. I don't know what I would do without my boys…

Pedro is, and always will, be my brother. Related by blood or not, we are like siblings. No matter what, when we were fledglings, he was always there to boost my confidence, and make me smile. Truthfully, I never would have gotten into singing and dancing without him. If he was gone…I shudder to think…

And Nico, I couldn't help but tear up when I thought about him being gone. There was nothing else I needed in life than him. I seriously couldn't see myself with anyone else, _ever_, and I wanted to wake up in his wings, falling asleep each night to the sound of his heartbeat, until I was called to The Beyond. We were Nico and Sonny, and whenever there was one without the other, birds knew something was up.

"Ok enough!" I scolded myself, looking around for something to do. I spied a cleaning rag and walked over to it. As I did I noticed that everything could use a good dusting. _There we go, some cleaning to keep you occupied._ So I grabbed the rag and sort of danced around, singing a little song and dusting off all of the furniture until it shined.

I then gathered all of the moss rugs by the front door and took them out one by one to shake them out, so there was no dust in them, and they felt a bit softer to the touch. When I was laying down the long one in Nico and my room I lay down and gently snuggled my face into the moss. _Oh yeah! I could just fall asleep right here. It's almost as soft as Nico's feathers…_ I smiled dreamily and pictured his face from when we woke up that very morning. He had been so sacked out, but incredibly adorable that I just couldn't help but love him. I sat there for a moment longer, smiling stupidly at the ceiling, until I rolled over and spotted the broom leaning lazily against the wall.

I stood up and started sweeping out every nook and cranny. _Dust bunnies beware! _ I thought with a giggle. I felt like some sort of trapped princess that desperately needed something to do, so I sang and cleaned like it was the most entertaining thing to do in the universe. I worked my way around the hollow until I ended up with two different piles one at the front door and one at the back.

All the while I was singing, _"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream. I know you, the gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam. Yet I know it's true, that visions are seldom what they seem; but if I know you, I know what you'll do. You'll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream." _ Then I started giggling thinking about what anybird would be thinking if they were watching me right now.

I gave the back door pile a few hard sweeps and it flew off the back branch fluttering to the forest floor far below. "Bye bye bunnies!" I wiggled my feathers in a cutsie little wave, then spun around to head back to the front door. But as I turned around I was enveloped in a warm hug, and someone's beak was pressed to mine in a very wonderful kiss.

My entire body relaxed, my eyes fluttered closed, and I felt like my whole world was launched into the clouds. I wrapped my wings around my sunbeam's neck, pulling him closer and kissing him back ardently. _And you were worried he would disappear? _My brain chuckled. _There's nothing that could tear you two apart._

After a few more moments of absolute perfection, Nico pulled back but still held me tightly. "And what dream would that be?" He asked with a twinkle in those deep amber brown eyes that made me melt again.

"What?" I breathed, then realized he had been standing there for longer than I thought. "Oh…"A blush crept to my cheeks, but he just smirked and brushed his flight feathers across my cheek, "I guess that would be the dream I have every night, about you." I traced my flight feather down his chest and batted my eyes, trying to look cute.

"Interesting," Nico smirked, "I have one about you too."

"And what do you see in this dream?" I asked, playfully tugging him out onto the back branch.

"Well I see_ you_, in my future," He wrapped his wing around my shoulders, and I smiled contentedly, "And we're sitting right here as our chicks come flying home from school;"

"Chicks?" I murmured and looked up to him with my big green eyes.

He looked down and there was an undeniable smile on his beak, "_Our_ chicks." I kissed him tenderly for a moment and he continued, "And we laugh and play with them; teaching them how to dance and sing like and good Canary would." We chuckled and I rested my head on his chest loving this moment.

"I love you, so incredibly much." I breathed and sat up, bringing my wings around his shoulders and pulling him closer than he already was.

"I love you more." Nico replied matter-of-factly, resting his forehead on mine.

"I've told you before," I grinned, "There is no way in all of the world you can love me more than I love you."

"That's why you're my girl." Nico chuckled and pulled me into another kiss. After a moment we pulled apart, and just sat there in the sunshine enjoying the feel of its warmth on our bright yellow feathers. Then Nico spoke again, "Sonny?"

"What?" I replied.

"I think we should go back to The Branch." My eyes got wide and I sat up as he continued, "I know the owl was a little scary, but I think that he's gone now…"

"But Nico, you didn't _see_ Raymond." I shivered, "I've _never_ seen him so scared in all of his life, and it wasn't the fact he was scared that freaked me out…" I took a deep breath as tears welled in my eyes, "It was the fact that he completely lost it when you and Pedro weren't standing with me."

"Baby," Nico crooned and wiped away my tears, "You're not going to lose me."

"What if I do? What if something terrible happens and you both go missing?" I stood, my wings shaking and my legs a little wobbly, "What if that owl does something to you guys and I'm left all alone?" Nico stood with me and I buried my face in his chest. "I can't live without you." I cried softly for a little while and my sunbeam just held me to him and stroked the back of my head and down my back trying to get me to calm down.

"Sonny?" Nico asked after a few minutes. I sniffled and looked up at his handsome face, which was full of compassion for my sorrowful state, and managed a weak smile.

"Hmm?" I hummed.

"You can't do that to yourself," Nico spoke slowly and softly, letting his deep voice sink into my ears, "If you worry yourself like that you're going to have a heart attack, and then who will I sing to?" He placed a feather under my chin and locked his eyes with mine. I sighed and looked away.

"There are lots of other girls out there…" I mumbled. I heard him inhale sharply, and when I looked back up to him he had an absolutely appalled look on his face. Then he gently slapped me across my cheek.

"Take that back." He said gently at first and when I didn't reply he said it a little harsher, "Take it back."

"And how are you going to make me?" I playfully glared at him and stepped back. It was then I realized I had made a huge mistake. "Oh no…"

"Yep." Nico narrowed his eyes and he stepped closer.

"No. Nico…" I brought my wings in front of me protectively, and stepped back again.

"Oh yes!" He smiled wider and lunged at me, "I'm going to tickle you into submission!" I dodged just in time and leapt off the back branch. "Hey! Get back here!" I shot through the trees, heading for the waterfall, and my prime hiding spot. A scared little squeal escaped my beak when Nico nicked my wing and I rolled out of the way.

"Nico! You're going to regret this!" I called.

"I don't think so!" He replied and nicked my wing again. I dove towards the forest floor and spiraled through a grouping of vines. I was able to throw Nico off a bit and pumped my wings harder. Just as I started to hear the whir of his wings again we burst out of the forest and out over the huge lake that was at the base of the waterfall. I shot towards the falls, hoping to dive behind them and hide in one of the many caves that were behind them.

Suddenly I heard a shout and hesitated for a fraction of a second. That was all it took for Nico to wrap his wings around my waist and drag me into the lake. "Are you cr…?" I tried to yell at him, but the water took my voice away. We cut through the clear water, diving deeper and deeper until we stopped and floated for a second. I opened my eyes and saw Nico flapping his wings and swimming back to the surface for air.

I smiled a bit, scrubbed my feathers a touch, and followed. When I broke the surface but didn't stop to let Nico catch me, and flew to the falls. In the morning sunshine, the mist created a rainbow making the whole place feel magical. I looped around the water-and-light masterpiece, then shot through it from the bottom going towards the sky. It _felt_ like I was just flying through the mist, but the _sight_ was amazingly different.

The colors danced across my feathers, sort of like the colors from the disco ball at The Branch, making me feel like an apparition. Violet blended into indigo, blue, then green, yellow, orange, and red. Each one took its toll on my own sunshine yellow feathers; the red being my favorite and turning me into an orange canary, while the violet made me look a lighter lilac purple color. The entire time I felt like I was in my own little universe.

As I made it through the final hue of red I twirled around and giggled in girlish joy. _Why didn't I ever do that before? _ I wondered. It had to be the most amazing thing I had ever done, well except for one thing. I turned back to the lake and saw Nico hovering just below the rainbow, staring at me with wide eyes. I smiled and held my wing in front of my face like I would a fan, so just my eyes were visible over the tops of my feathers. His eyes were still wide, but he managed a smirk and soared up to me.

"That right there," Nico said as he reached me, "Reminded me of the very first time I saw you there in The Branch." I grinned and he continued, while leading me towards a dry rock with the sun shining directly on it, "The night you completely swept me off my feet."

I rolled my eyes and let a soft laugh leave my mouth, "Hardly. You're the one that held me." I thought back to that night, as we laded, and turned back to him. "But perhaps I don't remember it that well."

"I remember it, clear as crystal." Nico smiled and wrapped his wing around my waist, pulling me to him. With a gentle motion he placed my wings under his jaw, then led me around in a slow tango.

"I don't remember dancing." I crooned, having my eyes locked on his, unable to look away.

"Well, you're right there," He smiled, "I'm actually setting you up." Gently he spun me out, but clung to the end of my wing.

"Oh," I grinned and twirled back to him, wrapping my left leg around his hips and again cradling Nico's face in my wings. "Like this?"

"You betcha." Nico chuckled and with one snappy movement dipped me, and planted his beak on mine, quite passionately. We stayed like that for a long while, completely lost in our own special world high up in the clouds. My entire body shut down, and all I felt was euphoria.

Sadly Nico pulled back, and helped me regain my footing. "That was wonderful." I smiled softly and wrapped my wings around his neck. "But that is _not _how that night went."

"It is in my head." Again with that smirk.

"Oh you!" I slapped his cheek softly, and stepped back, still holding his wing.

"So, whadda ya say? Do you trust me?" Nico asked and turned towards town. My stomach fell, and I sighed looking away. He squeezed my wing and I looked back to his big brown eyes; as always I saw the tenderest of all emotions in them: deep, soothing love.

"How could I not?"

"There's the Sonny I know," Nico pulled me into another tight hug, "And love with everything I've got."

"You're the best." I gave him a quick kiss and we started off for the club, and the one thing that would transform my life into something totally different.

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><p>"Everything is ready," Phillip stood on the edge of the abandoned airport's roof, watching the humans talk. "The humans are leaving in the morning."<p>

"So all we need is the canary with the bottle cap and the fat cardinal, and I'm done?" Luís asked standing in the shadows with a cocky looking Ana to his right.

"Yes," The Hyacinth allowed himself an evil chuckle, "Then my plan for revenge will be complete."

"You see Raymond," Ana stalked around the caged parakeet, "You couldn't help them. Nico and Pedro will be ripped away from their home, Sonora will have a completely shattered life, and we will emerge victorious." The parakeet just glared at her. "What no cocky words from the owner of that pathetic club all you dirty west-side birds go to?"

"I refuse to speak to you." Ray spat at the lori's feet and turned to the macaw, who still had his indigo back to them. "What will you gain from this? You _know_ it's wrong, and you _know_ it's a capital offense; why?"

"Because I am not so weak as to think that karma exists, and must take these matters into my own talons." Phillip turned and walked slowly around the cage. "You certainly messed things up, or at least delayed them a bit, but no matter. My plans are nearly complete, and the F.N. are on a wild goose chase, therefore…"

"The F.N. are right on your scent, and _you_ are going to jail for this!" Antonio appeared on the edge of the roof with a self-assured smile on his face. His new badge gleamed in the moonlight, as did the dagger held in his wing. Phillip, Luís, and Ana all whirled around at the tanager's landing, and Raymond smiled.

"HA!" Raymond shouted, "I knew this would never work!" Phillip's face twisted in fury, and he kicked the cage Ray was in. It fell over on its side and the prisoner hit his head on the concrete.

"Ray!" Antonio called and shot forward to attack the macaw. With a shriek Luís jumped in front of his "master" to protect him. "And this just went to mission impossible, to mission in-freakin-sanity." The Paradise Tanager breathed, and dove out of the way of a swing from the owl. He performed a summer-salt and sprang back to his feet with a spin, catching the owl across the chest with the honed edge of his dagger.

"You little green headed freak!" Luís growled and lunged at him.

"Come on big guy," Antonio taunted and stepped backwards in a circle, "Come and get me."

"Oh I'm gonna get you, you feathery spring roll; and I'm gonna make you wish you were never hatched." They kept their pacing up for several more minutes, each watching the other for a single flaw so they could pounce.

"Well this is beautiful," Phillip groaned from behind the enormous Spotted Owl, "But could you please KILL him now?"

"Sure thing boss." Luís grunted as he lunged for the tanager that stood a mere five inches tall. Though, because of his size, Antonio was incredibly agile and easily zoomed around the owl and flew up to the top of the rusty hanger door.

"You really think _that's _the way you're gonna catch me?" He leaned against the wall.

"Gah!" Luís dove down at the door, but Antonio crawled a little further back so the owl couldn't touch him.

"Na, na, nanana." The ever self-confident Antonio teased. Come on big-eyes, I thought you were gonna make me wish I never hatched."

"Maybe he won't, but I will!" Ana appeared behind him with a double-bladed spear; although she held it incorrectly and seemed a little overwhelmed to be holding an actual weapon.

"Whew, you birds are prepared." The Tanager grinned and drew a short-sword from a thin sheath under his wing, "But lucky for me, so am I." With a heathen shriek, Ana sprang forward and slashed at him with the spear. Antonio easily blocked it and returned the blow with his own attack, cutting her wing.

"You IDIOT! I swear I'm gonna…" Just before she could spit out another insult, Antonio spun around, gathering momentum, and delivered a roundhouse kick square to her chest. Ana flew backwards off the hanger door, and fell towards the ground.

"No!" Phillip dove off the roof and caught the lorikeet just before she hit the ground. Gently he set her on the ground. "Are you alright?" He asked gently.

"Yeah, he got my wing, but…" Suddenly there was a loud snap. The rusty braces that had held it up for nearly twenty years, finally, rotted through from the humidity of the rainforest, and the hanger door started to fall towards the couple. "Finish your plan Phillip." Ana looked Phillip in the eyes as she spoke, "I've done what I can for you." The door was closer now, and before they were both crushed, Ana shoved the macaw hard to the right. He tumbled out of the way, just as the door smashed to the ground and crushed the lorikeet.

"Ana!" The Hyacinth cried and reached out a wing to the door, "I'm so sorry." Then he snapped his gaze to Antonio who was hovering in the doorway. With a sorry look, the tanager turned and flew back to the roof. Quickly he soared over to the cage that held Raymond and started jimmying the lock.

"Don't worry Ray;" Antonio grunted, "You'll be out of here in just a second. My squad is right behind me…"

"Umm, Antonio…" Ray murmured and pointed behind him. The tanager turned to see Luís and Phillip full out attacking the six agents that had emerged from the trees to help. Three had already fallen to the ground, and just as Antonio turned back around, a fourth joined them.

"You're getting out of here, and you're gonna save the Canary's and Pedro." At that moment the lock clicked, but instead of the door opening, it jammed. And as if things couldn't get worse, the sound of two very angry sets of wings flew back to the roof.

"Oh no he's not," Phillip grabbed the neon green feathers on the back of Antonio's head and threw him backwards, making extra certain the spear Ana had been carrying cut long and deep across the smaller bird's wing.

"OW! Jeez! I don't remember stealing your birthday!" Antonio simpered and tried to stand. Unfortunately, Phillip nodded to Luís who took off the roof, and dove back towards Antonio.

"You're finished, you traitor. I hope your futile attempts are noted by your precious F.N.," Phillip crooned and punched him in the face, feeling Antonio's beak crush beneath the pressure of the blow. The Paradise Tanager flew to the edge of the hanger as blood poured from his beak. With a wicked grin and a deranged laugh Phillip grabbed Antonio by his bright blue chest feathers and held him over the edge. "Noted mainly by your death." Then he dropped the small bird, who had no way to fly, over the edge. Shortly afterwards, Luís zoomed by, wings tucked to his sides in a flat out dive, to catch the tanager.

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><p><strong>Ok ok I know that's a little icky, but it got the old adrenaline going did it not? lol Next chapter should be the last...but we'll just have to see. ;) <strong>


	14. Chapter 14: Return and Gone Again

**ALRIGHTY PEEPS! This is the incredibly long final chapter of this story. I'm so horribly sorry it took so long, but here it is. EmmerzK, this is a chapter of which the length I think you would like. :)**** NOW READ!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

**Return and Gone Again**

I knew Sonny hated me, at least a little, for making her go back into town, but I knew that a week was far too long for _any _of us to be away from the club. She just needed a bit of a prod, and she would be back to normal; dancing and singing up on that stage the way she, and I, loved so much. That's my girl for ya, paranoid about us boys. I didn't really blame her though.

The thought of us being separated was enough to send a shiver up my spine, but the thought of being taken away from Sonny nearly broke my heart. There was nothing I wanted more in life than to be by her side every night, and every morning until I was called above the clouds to wait for her there.

I looked over at her flying next to me in the afternoon sunshine, and just had to grin. Sonny still looked nervous, but I knew just how to fix that. I started whistling the beginning of our song and she looked over at me and rolled her eyes. _"Wasn't really thinking, wasn't looking, wasn't searching for an answer… In the moonlight, when I saw your face…" _ I drew out the last line a little longer and shrugged my eyebrows at my girl to see what she would do.

"Oh you!" Sonora giggled, and sang her line, a bit reluctantly, in her amazingly sweet alto as we steered towards the club, _"Saw you looking at me; saw you peeking out from moonbeams through the palm trees…swaying in the breeze."_

We sang the next part together, and she was able to smile a genuine smile as we harmonized the chorus, _"I know I'm feeling so much more than ever before, and I know I'm giving more to you, than I thought I could do!" _ Together we landed just outside the club, and she wrapped her wings around my neck.

"Hello there," I said a bit surprised, "To what do I owe this lovely hug, from such a lovely lady?"

"I love you. Do I need another reason?" Sonny murmured from where her face was buried in my shoulder. With a happy chuckle, I wrapped my wings around her shoulders and held her tightly for a moment.

"I love you too, sunshine." As I spoke I inhaled the fruity, tropical scent of her feathers and my eyes rolled back in my head. _Whatever I did to land here, in this life, I would gladly do again;_ was all I could think as I enjoyed this moment. Then she stepped back and I dropped from cloud 9 back to my normal cloud 7.

"Sunshine?" Sonny raised an eyebrow and her amazing green eyes had a mischievous spark in them.

"My sunshine on a cloudy day." I grinned at my own cleverness.

"Oh I see." She smiled and planted a soft kiss on my beak, "Come on lover boy; I feel the sudden urge to sing." She took my wing to lead me into the club, but just before we pulled back the tarp, we heard a call from behind us.

"Nico! Sonny! Wait for us!" We turned and saw Rafael and Pedro flying towards us.

"Hey guys!" Sonny ran forward and nearly tackled Pedro in a hug. "Where have you been?" When she finished with my brother, she turned and wrapped her wings tightly around Rafael and he chuckled at her affection. Sonny was like that though, she had the biggest heart of any bird I had ever met, and she loved everything about life. I believe that was reason number…fifty seven out of the never ending number of reasons as to why I loved her so much.

"I was at my pad, and Rafael was with Eva looking for a hollow." Pedro explained.

"We found a nice little place, but I think we're looking for something a little more open. We're gonna go look more tomorrow." The toucan explained.

"That's awesome!" Sonny exclaimed, "I hope you find something close to Canary Corner."

"Yeah!" I agreed "I hope you find a nice place."

"Me too." Rafael agreed, "But you've got me for tonight. How shall we party?"

"Well I have to sing a quick little song for Nico, for our almost anniversary," Sonny winked at me and wrapped my wing around her, "Then we'll paint this town! What do you say?"

"Starting with our new song." Pedro reached out his wing and Nico and I placed ours on top of his, and we shared a smile.

"Oh yeah." Sonny said in a cute little way that made my heart leap, and a smile come to my and my brother's beak

"Sounds great! Let's go!" Rafael cheered, and we walked into our favorite place in all of Rio. We found our spot on the dance floor, close to the stage and started to dance around, and having a wonderful time listening to the current performer. Sonny and I danced together trading moves subtly, but then Pedro cleared the dance floor with a break-dancing battle he had started with a Red-fan parrot. We cheered and clapped at each trade off of moves, but by the time the song was over, Pedro was panting heavily and had easily bested the parrot.

"Nice moves," They shared a wing bump and a bro hug, "But maybe next time."

"I look forward to it." Then the parrot left with a smile, and his girl on his wing.

"Looks like I'm up. Try not to blush to hard babe." Sonny gave me another quick kiss, and glided up to the stage, spoke to the D.J., and took to center stage. The spotlight settled on her beautiful figure as she waved a wing to quite the crowd down. "Alright everyone, I want you all to take a look around," She paused and looked down to me, "Find that special someone and look them in the eyes, and just tell them what they mean to you," Sonora smiled broadly and blew me a kiss, "Because that's what this song is all about."

Then the lights around the club softened, and the disco ball was hit by a light as it spun slowly around and around. I couldn't take my eyes away from my girl, and neither could she as she started to sing, _"If I could grant you one wish  
>I'd wish you could see the way you kiss," <em>Again she blew me a kiss and continued, _"Oh I love watching you baby; when you're driving me oooh crazy!" _A few girls joined her on stage and helped sing the backup of the chorus.

"_Ooh I love the way you, love the way you love me (Girls in the background: Touch me); there's nowhere else I'd rather be. (Girls: The way you laugh and breathe and smile) Ooh to feel the way I feel with your wings around me; I only wish that you could see the way you love me (Girls: Love Me). Whoa ooh whoa ooh whoa the way you love me." _She twirled around, wrapping her wings around herself, then the lights dimmed and the soft spotlight returned to her as she floated into the next verse.

"_It's not right, it's not fair; what you're missing over there." _She pointed to a few couples who were holding each other tight and dancing slowly around the dance floor,_ "Someday I'll find a way, to show you just how lucky I am to know you!" _Sonny made a "come here" motion to me with her wing and with a chuckle I flew up on stage with her. I stood behind her and wrapped my wings around her shoulders as she and the girls moved into the chorus.

"_Ooh I love the way you, love the way you love me (Girls in the background: Touch me); there's nowhere else I'd rather be." _She gestured to my wings, and placed hers over mine where they overlapped above her heart; I could feel the steady beat there, and it made my own heart speed up a bit as we swayed to the music._ "(Girls: The way you laugh and breathe and smile) Ooh to feel the way I feel with your wings around me; I only wish that you could see the way you love me (Girls: Love Me). Whoa ooh whoa ooh whoa the way you love me."_

I pulled my wings back, twirled her around, and Sonora placed her wings on my chest as she sang the next line. Those sparkling green gems she called eyes locked on mine, and every word meant more to me than any she had ever spoken, _"You're the million reasons why there's love reflecting in my eyes!" _ There was a bit of a pause in the music, that the DJ purposefully put in, as Sonny leaned forward and planted a tender kiss on my beak that sealed her words in my heart forever. We pulled apart and the music swelled again.

I added my voice to the last part of the song making the stage ring with the lyrical magic. _"Ooh I love the way you, love the way you love me (Girls in the background: Touch me); there's nowhere else I'd rather be! (Girls: The way you laugh and breathe and smile) Ooh to feel the way I feel with your wings around me; I only wish that you could see the way you love me (Girls: Love Me). Whoa ooh whoa ooh whoa the way you love me! Whoa ooh whoa ooh whoa the way you love me!"_

Together we drew out the last note until even our ears rang with the melody, and ended with a quick kiss. The crowd exploded and several whistles were heard after the kiss. We were both grinning hugely and couldn't look away from each other. "Who's my girl?" I asked her, spreading my wings as a gesture for her to give me a hug, after the crowd died down a bit.

"I'm your girl!" She cried and leapt into my wings with a squeal of joy. I spun around, holding her to my chest tightly as she burrowed her face into the crook of my neck. I couldn't help but laugh the happiest laugh I ever had just feeling her this close to me, and knowing that my life was pretty much perfect. We stopped spinning as Pedro joined us on stage and quieted the crowd.

"Alright birds," He called and I placed Sonny back on her feet, but held her wing tightly in mine, "Are you ready for a new song from the Three Amigos?" The crowd roared their approval, but it didn't sound loud enough. The three of us shared a skeptical look, and Sonny and I stepped forward with Pedro.

"I don't know about you boys," Sonny waved a wing, then placed it on her hip, as she spoke, "But that sounded like they just want us to go home."

"You know babe, I think you're right. Pedro?" I cocked an eyebrow at my brother.

"What a shame," Pedro slumped, "We've been working on this one for a long time…I thought it was perfect…"

"NO!" A few birds from the crowd screamed as we turned to leave.

"Did you hear something?" Sonny asked and brought a wing to her ear.

"You know," I smiled and turned slightly back around, "I may just have heard a little bit of something…" A slight roar went through the crowd, but we chose to tease them more.

"I think that was just a breeze coming off the coast." Sonny smirked and stepped over to me. I placed a wing around her waist and there was another roar from the crowd. As they cheered we drew each other into a huddle.

"That's the crowd we want!" Pedro told us, and we nodded.

"So let's give it to them!" Sonny cheered. "Take the drums boys!" She soared off to center stage to pump up the crowd while Pedro and I laughed and took to the drums. "Alright Hot Wings!" My sunshine called to the crowd as they cheered louder than before as she strowed across the stage pumping her wings up and down to rev them up. "This is a new one, just for you! Get ready to party!"

As she said that Pedro and I started the beat, and the lights hit the disco ball. Ever so slyly I looked over to Sonny, hooded my eyes, glided my flight feathers across the rim of my beloved bottle cap and said, "Party in the Ipanima, baby!" She smiled brightly back at me, as all three of us started singing.

"_I wanna party, I wanna samba, I wanna party, I wanna samba. I wanna party and live my life! I wanna party,"_ Here we echoed "party" then looked at each other knowingly, as we performed a few little dance moves, _"And fly!"_ We sang together, and shot into the air; I flying to the right, Pedro to the left and Sonny shooting over the middle of the screaming crowd, performing body rolls as she flew.

I circled around the club, then soared back to the stage, touching down just as the drums pounded out a note. Immediately I threw my feet and hips into a swerving little dance, while slapping away at the tambourine like bottle cap to keep tempo. _"Imma fly, fly just like a bird," _I started.

"_But you are a bird."_ Pedro and Sonny spun around and pointed to me as they purred their words.

"_Oh yea you're right, so let me fly just like a rocket then."_ I shrugged and walked over to the handle of an upturned human spoon. Pedro positioned himself close to the bowl part of it as we continued.

"_Ok."_ Pedro and Sonny nodded in agreement, and my brother jumped on the end of the spoon sending me shooting towards the roof of the club.

"_Fly so high that I need to come down for ox-y-gen." _ I sang this part from deep in my stomach making it sound very rich, and having it vibrate throughout the club, as I fell back towards the stage. I didn't flap my wings until I nearly landed on my back on the stage; so I rolled over and looped around to land on top of a little ramp.

"_Cause once we started, baby, ain't no, ain't no stoppin' it."_ Cardinal and Canary meet me there and we stand back to back as we shimmy around in a circle. _"Cause I just wanna live my life and party." _I spun around and performed a splits while I slid down the ramp._ "All I want is to be free and rock my body."_ I gestured to my body, then looked over to my girl. She grinned back at me and we met on center stage to dance a little while I finished my verse. _"I been all around the world, and I wanna live my life in Rio. In Rio, cause Rio's the real life."_

"_I wanna party, I wanna samba, I wanna party, I wanna samba. I wanna party and live my life!" _When I sang this part I pulled Sonny in close and planted a kiss on her cheek. I got several whistles from the crowd, and Sonny blushed a little as we continued, _"I wanna party, and FLY!"_

"_I'm that samba, samba masta, masta, masta, masta, masta. __You shout samba? I'm gonna get your blasta, blasta, blasta, blasta, blasta."_ I laughed at Pedro's rhyming, that made little sense. _"You dance fast," _He pointed to Sonny and I setting the floor on fire with a lightning fast samba. The crowd screamed at our blur of moves, until Pedro brought their attention back to him,_ "But I dance fasta, fasta, fasta, fasta, fasta." _Here he started a super-fast, break-dance then hugged his knees to his chest, and hurled himself into a spin from where he sat on his tail feathers.

Soon he was just a blur of bright red and grey, and was obviously faster than Sonny and I. We cheered and clapped along with the crowd at the rehearsed dance. After a little while longer Pedro slowed his spinning but finished on his feet, and everyone exploded. When they died down again, Pedro turned to us with a playful smirk, and sang, _"You're too slow… You need to catch up…"_

"_You can dance and dance, but I…"_ Sonny belted out the last note long and strong, while my brother and I continued into the chorus. "_I wanna party, I wanna samba, I wanna party, I wanna samba. I wanna party and live my life! I wanna party, and fly!"_ Then Pedro cawed in his strange way, and we started shouting "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" The red headed bird cawed again after each set.

Now it was Sonny's turn. When we finished the chorus I grabbed her wing and started a fast samba, twirling her in and out, around and around, using myself as the axis to build momentum. Then I pulled my sunshine in close, with great pleasure, letting her scent waft into my nose. Clinging tightly to one another, we spun around faster and faster, until I used the gathered momentum and smoothly tossed her into the air. She beat her wings slow and tilted her head back as she sang, _"Laya, laya, laya, laya!"_ All alone with the spotlight on her, Sonny sang her part again, while flying in front of me looking like an angel, _"Laya, laya, laya, laya, laya, laya, laya, laya!" _

Daintily, Sonora landed back on the stage, facing me with adoration brimming in her charming light green eyes, and a warm smile on her face. She hugged me quickly. "You're the best." I heard her say, and smiled even wider. I let her go and we turned back to the crowd shouting "Hey!" as Pedro cawed between sets. The crowd caught on quickly and was soon shouting loud enough to drown out the music.

"HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!" We ended with one last boisterous roar, and a pose. Sonny twirled into my chest and leaned against me with her left wing in the air. Her right clung to my wing which was resting on her shoulder. Pedro was just behind us smiling flirtatiously at some girls in the front row. They all screamed and reached out their wings to him, and I couldn't help but laugh. This whole day had been perfect, and this was how I got to end it.

"There you have it ladies and gents;" The DJ called from his perch as the spotlights centered on us three, "The Three Amigos!" The mind-numbing cheering went on for another five minutes before we were able to call our thank you's to the crowd and fly to the bar.

"Way to go birds!" Pedro cheered and we shared high fives all around.

"That was even better than we rehearsed it!" Sonny agreed and plopped down on a barstool. I sat next to her and Pedro joined us after motioning to the drink girl for three drinks.

"Bro, you're dancing was the BOMB!" I slapped Pedro on the back.

"Thanks," Pedro smiled, "But you guys and that samba…There's no way I could have done that." He shook his head in a good natured kind of way and we chuckled.

"Aw nonsense!" Sonny ginned, "All it takes is a little music and some…" She paused, stood, and performed a few speedy steps and spun around, ending with her wings on her hips, "Fancy footwork." She winked at us, looking very cute as she did so, then we burst into a fit of laughter.

"You're just too cute for words, ya know that?" I asked her and wrapped my wing around her shoulders.

"I try." She giggled and shrugged.

"You're both too cute for words!" A new voice joined us and we turned to see Josie and Patty walking through the crowd to us.

"Hello there ladies!" Pedro flew over to them and led them each to a bar stool.

"You're quite the gentleman tonight, Pedro." Josie complimented, as she ruffled her colorful feathers and sat.

"It's obvious he wants something." Patty waved a wing, and her intelligent black eyes sparkled. My brother blushed, which was hard to see through the red feathers on his head, but I could tell.

"Well I was wondering if maybe…" He fidgeted a bit, and Sonny giggled from where she was tucked under my wing.

"You want us to talk to a girl for you?" My girl asked and twisted her wing. Pedro's head snapped up and he had a shocked look on his face.

"Um, well, yeah! You would do that for me?" He asked the girls and all three of them nodded.

"Who is she?" Josie pressed.

"I don't quite, uh, know her name…" Pedro shrugged and took a sip of his drink.

"What?" Patty gasped, "The king of Hot Wings, doesn't know the name of the Hot Wing he's after? You're losing your touch." Then she received an elbow in her stomach from Sonny.

"Be nice! At least he's trying!" She scolded playfully.

"So where is she then?" Josie asked, returning to the subject.

"Over there, by the stage." Pedro pointed a flight feather in the direction of a very pretty Red-capped Cardinal who was dancing with her friends.

"Marissa?" Patty asked with raised eyebrows.

"That's her name?" My brother asked sheepishly.

"Yeah, she's in choir with us." Sonny replied and took a sip of her drink. I mimicked her and thought I could taste something strange about the liquid.

"You guys notice anything weird about the juice?" I asked and took another small sip to double check.

"No," Sonny stood and looked at our cups, "But you drank out of my cup, babe." I turned around and saw that my wing was holding on to a cup of pineapple juice, and right next to it was a cup of orange juice.

"Ooooh…" I smiled sheepishly and switched the cups, and took a drink out of mine. "Much better."

"You're such a goofball." Sonora crooned and tucked herself under my wing again.

"I'm your goofball, baby." I hugged her tightly, loving the little moment.

"Enough of that suns spots," Pedro huffed, "What about Marissa?"

"Ok ok." Sonny surprised me, and kissed me deeply for a moment, running her wing down my jaw, and bringing it to rest on my shoulder, then pulled back and turned back around. I had to resist the urge to pull her back, "Come on ladies." She waved a wing to summon the girls, and as she walked off, she swayed her hips a little more than normal, just to tease me. I wolf whistled at her and heard all three of them giggle.

"Bro," Pedro placed a wing on my shoulder, and used a flight feather to shut my beak, "I'm so jealous of you, you have _no_ idea." The crowd closed around the girls and they disappeared from my view. I took a deep breath and I started to hear the music again. I think it had stopped when that beautiful drop of sunshine turned around and gave me the best kiss I had ever experienced.

"Wow." Was all I could breathe. Then all of the sudden I felt off balance and my head started spinning. My vision was blurred and I could barely see Pedro correctly.

"Nico?" Pedro reached out a wing to me as I grabbed a bar stool to keep from falling over. "Bro, you ok?"

"Oh…" I moaned, "I don't feel so great."

"Come with me, I have something in the back that might help." The juice girl nodded to the back door and Pedro helped me hobble in that direction. Soon we stepped outside into a dark ally, and the girl went to find her medicine.

"Wait, what about Sonny?" I gasped as my stomach shot pain through my body.

"I'll go and tell her." Pedro turned to go back inside.

"Oh no you won't." A huge shadow appeared out of nowhere and blocked the door.

"Hey! What gives?" Pedro ruffled up and brought up his fists.

"Come on fatty," The shadow crooned, "Try it and see how it feels." Both of our eyes got wide and the shadow stepped into the light; it was the bouncer owl!

"You!" I shouted, my anger giving me the strength to stand. "You have no right to even think you could close us off from the club!" I took a few shaky steps forward and glared daggers at him. Just then the girl came back around the corner, saw the owl, screamed, and fainted. "Someone had to have heard that." I looked back to the owl and he looked nervous.

"Even if they did, we'll be gone before they can help you." With a rush of wind, he pumped his wings, bringing him off the ground, and grabbed Pedro and I both around the waist, clamping our wings to our sides.

"Patty! Josie! SONNY! Someone! Anyone! HELP!" I cried as my vision faded out into blackness. My last thought was of my sunshine, and what she would think when she realized we had disappeared.

* * *

><p>Luís came flying into the hanger, right on schedule. With silent ease he glided across the floor, and tossed his captives into the cage that Phillip held open for him. Both Nico and Pedro hit the cage wall hard, and lay still for a moment; Pedro not really understanding what had happened in the last fifteen minutes. Slowly he sat up and looked around, immediately noticing Nico, who was still passed out. As the cardinal stood he, stepped over and tried his best to revive his brother by fanning his face with his bottle cap.<p>

"Well done, Luís." Phillip said after closing the cage door.

"Who are you?" Pedro asked, slightly panicked, as he continued to fan the canary's face.

"Ha!" Phillip laughed, "Nico hasn't told you about me? I'm the one who had him removed from the academy." He said it as though it was a proud accomplishment.

Suddenly, as though in his dreaming state Nico heard the pompous macaw's voice, he started laughing and his eyes cracked open. "Removed?" He continued laughing, and stood; Nico felt no more pain, he didn't even feel sick anymore. "I beat some sense into your dumb head, and _they_ had me removed. You sat in the corner and licked your wounds." Then he reached to push his bottle cap out of his eyes, just to realize it wasn't on his head. "Pedro…Where's…"

"Right here bro." Pedro handed the trinket to Nico, who grabbed it as though it was his lifeline.

"Thanks Pedro." The canary murmured, placing it on his head.

"You didn't put enough of it in his drink did you?" Phillip hissed at Luís who was just behind him. The huge owl flinched and stepped back before answering.

"I put the whole thing in there!" He moaned.

"If you had done that he'd be dead!" The macaw whirled around and pointed a, significantly smaller, talon at Luís.

"Well I guess it wasn't all. I had to put some in the girl's drink too." Luís raised his wings protectively.

"I have a high tolerance for drugs. I get it from my parents." Nico had stopped talking and was picking the lock on his cage while his captors had it out. With a grunt the simple lock snapped open, and Nico stepped out purposefully, Pedro right on his tail. Rage boiled in his eyes and both of the other birds could see it. "But you're telling me that you **drugged** Sonora?"

"And if we did, what could _you_ possibly do about it?" Phillip ruffled his feathers and met the canary in the middle of the hanger floor.

"I'm gonna put you in your place, again, then make sure my girl is alright; and there's **nothing** you two can do that will stop me."

"Is that so?" Phillip crooned, "Do you remember what happened to your parents?" The words shot straight into Nico's heart, and his rage only elevated.

"My parents are braver than you will ever be! They did what had to be done to protect me." Tears brimmed in his fiery eyes at the memory.

*Flashback*

_A thirteen-year-old Nico sat on the floor of his hollow doing homework for school the next day. His mother was working on dinner, and his father was in his room, getting something. It was Nico's 13__th__ birthday, and he was trying to be casual about the excitement building inside him. _

_He was finally going to be considered a teenager! That was the coolest thing, in his young mind, ever! He would be going to a new school, with all sorts of new birds, and new activities; he couldn't wait! Not to mention the fact that his father said that he had a big surprise for him that he would get soon. Young Nico couldn't stand it anymore._

"_Mama!" He called to his mother, who turned around and smiled at him. Her feathers were a buttery yellow color, with a light cream-colored patch on her chest. Her eyes were a soft hazel color, and were always overflowing with love for her son and mate. _

"_Yes, Nico?" She asked in her light voice, as he stood and walked up to the counter. _

"_Where's dad?" _

"_He's right here!" His father roared and grabbed Nico around his shoulders and waist, spinning him around and gently tossing him into the couch. Nico lay there laughing his feathers off, as he looked up to his father. His feathers were a deep honey gold color, and his eyes were a rich chocolate brown that always shone with intelligence. Nico's only hero was his dad, and he loved him with every inch of his being. "And I brought the tickle monster!"_

"_Oh no! Dad no!" Nico tried to wiggle away, but his dad placed a raspberry on his stomach and started mercilessly tickling him. "HELP! Somebird help me!" _

"_I'm coming my son!" He heard his mother call playfully, and set down anything that was in her wings to come to his aid. He heard her dainty talons click across the floor. Nico could see her face over his dad's shoulder, and smiled. But suddenly his father whirled around and grabbed her around the waist, pinning her wings to her sides. _

"_Heather, my dearest," His father crooned to his mate, while keeping him pinned with his free wing, "This is a father and son matter. Why would you involve your pretty self in something so…manly?" All chuckled at the remark._

"_Because, Pablo, my love," Heather played along, while mischievously hooding her eyes and leaning close to Pablo's face as she spoke, "You can be a bit rough with the boy." She smirked, and tried to wiggle a bit to free her wings._

"_Why do you have to be so gorgeous?" Then Nico was momentarily forgotten as they shared a deep kiss, wrapped in each other's wings. _

"_EEEWWW! MOM! DAD!" Nico groaned, and slapped his dad's shoulder to make him stop. Slowly they pulled back and shared a look._

"_Where are my manners?" Pablo let his mate go and walked over to the doorway where he left a package wrapped in leaves._

"_Is that for me?" Nico gasped._

"_Sure is my boy!" Carefully he set it on the floor next to Nico and the proud parents watched as he tore open the wrapping. As the leaves fell away, a telescope was revealed._

"_Wow! Where did you find this?" Nico breathed and picked it up; as he did though, the concave lens fell off the front and rolled across the floor._

"_Well, Nico, we made it for you. Grandpa helped and it should work just fine for all of your adventuring." His mother picked up the lens and a small screw-driver and tightened it back in place. _

"_It's perfect! Thank you guys!" He jumped up and wrapped them in a hug. _

"_You're welcome Nico." His father replied from the warm hug. "Now go and explore with it!" They stepped back and Nico smiled, then ran outside. _

"_That was perfect. You were right Pablo." Heather told her mate and returned to the kitchen._

"_I know my son by golly." He teased. That was the last Nico heard though. He was outside on the front branch peering through his telescope at everything he possibly could. _

_Suddenly a bright red head appeared in front of the scope and Nico screamed. "AHHH!" He slammed his wings down to keep from falling off the branch and looked up to see thirteen-year0old Pedro laughing his tail feathers off just a little ways away. "DUDE! You 'bout gave me a heart attack!" _

"_Haha! You should have seen yo face!" Pedro laughed harder at the scowl he was receiving._

"_That's not funny! And look! You made my telescope fall apart!" Nico gestured to the lens that had fallen out again. The sun was shining on it and as Nico picked it up he saw that it produced a small speck of light. "Hey check this out!" He called to his best friend._

"_What?" Pedro walked over as Nico flipped the lens over and it showed a wide spot of light. "Uh, yeah…cool." He shrugged._

"_No watch." Nico turned it over and the small dot appeared again._

"_Weird." _

"_Touch it." _

"_Why?" _

"_Just because; come on!" Then Pedro reached down and touched the small dot of sunlight. _

"_I don't see why," At first it didn't hurt, just felt like he was touching light, then it got super-hot, and burned his skin on his wing. "OW!" He yelped and jumped back. "Nico that's way hot!" _

"_What?" Nico didn't want to touch it, but suddenly the bark underneath the dot of light started to smoke. "Um…I don't think that's good." He then flipped the lens back over, but the smoke didn't go away. _

"_Put it out!" Pedro gaped. They both started fanning the smoke with their wings to make it die down. Suddenly it burst into a flame!_

"_GAH! What the heck?" Both boys jumped back, and the flame started chasing them along the branch. "Mom! Dad! Help!" Both flew into the hollow, telescope forgotten. _

"_What's wrong, honey?" His wonderful mother turned around calmly, and smiled at the sight of Pedro. "Hello Pedro."_

"_Hi Mrs. Canary!" He waved._

"_Dude!" Nico slapped his wing. _

"_What's wrong Nico?" His father asked, suddenly smelling smoke._

"_Well Pedro scared me and I dropped the telescope." He started._

"_Yeah, yeah!" Pedro emphasized. _

"_Then the lens fell out again. And when I went to pick it up, there was a little tiny light under it."_

"_Yeah!"_

"_And we held it there, and all of the sudden the branch started smoking…" Pablo's eyes widened and Nico saw actual fear in them; something he had never seen before._

"_FIRE!" He roared, and ran to the front door, where smoke was pouring in._

"_Alright boys, we need to gather some things, so stay right here." Heather then turned and ran into Nico's room. _

"_What have I done?" The canary asked miserably._

"_Nico," His father came up to him, "This isn't your fault. You were curious, that is all. We'll be ok." Then he left to gather things in his room. Heather returned and handed Nico a small bag of things._

"_Nico, sweetheart," She told him as she handed it to him, "No matter what, you can't lose this bag. It has what you'll need until we find a new hollow." Just as she finished her sentence, the front door crumbled and the flames poured in. "Pablo! The door is down! Did you get the back door open?" She cried and led them into her room, the flames on their heels. As they entered, Nico saw his father frantically clawing and beating at the back wall with an old nail._

"_It's big enough for the boys to squeeze through." He said as he paused. Nico's amber eyes were wide open in panic, and he clung to the bag that his mother had given him for dear life. Pedro was frozen in fear beside him. Now the smoke was getting so thick that it was hard to breathe. Both of the older canary's shared a look and nodded. _

"_Pedro, you first." Heather led him to the hole and Pablo helped him fly outside. _

"_Come on guys!" Nico heard him call from outside._

"_Go on Nico." His mother now had tears in her eyes, and when Nico turned to his father, he saw tears there too. They both helped him out the small hole and into the fresh air outside. He hovered there for a second, bag held tightly in his talons, then turned around._

"_Come on guys! We can get away!" He called to his beloved parents. _

"_Nico, we can't fit through." Pablo said in an even tone._

"_What?"_

"_We love you Nico." Heather said as she choked on a sob._

"_NO! Mom! Dad! Come on! You can get through!" He started clawing at the outside of the tree, tears now streaming down his face, only to be shoved back by his father._

"_Get out of here Nico! Save yourself and Pedro! We'll be ok." Nico hesitated, taking one last look at his parents faces._

"_But…"_

"_No buts. Now GO!" Pablo shouted, then started coughing as the smoke got to his lungs._

*End Flashback*

"They burned because of you Nico. It's your fault that they are dead now!" Phillip cawed.

"They loved me, and sacrificed themselves for me." Nico growled, wiping away the tears, "That's the kind of love I plan to give Sonora, and you're not stopping me from doing that!" The canary lunged at the macaw, and started throwing punches, ripping out feathers, and clawing at him. He was starting to feel on top of the situation, when Phillip delivered a hard kick right to his stomach, sending him flying into the air, only to land on his back and have the wind knocked out of him.

"You're finished here Nico, and dear Sonora will think you have deserted her. Think about that in your dreams." A white cloth was placed over his beak, and Nico drifted into the worst sleep of his life as his enemy cackled in the background.

* * *

><p>The next time I felt anything was the next morning. I could feel a blanket over my body from where I lay in my nest, and I could hear the sound of a very light snore. Slowly I cracked my eyes open and looked around. I was, without a doubt, back in Canary Corner, and in my room. <em>What the heck happened last night?<em> I thought as I tried to sit up. My head spun and I had to lay back down for a minute.

When I finally sat up, I realized that I was alone in the nest. "Nico?" I whispered, panic rising in my chest. I stood shakily, and saw my mother sitting in the living room, snoring lightly from the loveseat. "Mom?" I walked over to her and shook her awake.

"What? Where?" She breathed and opened her eyes; when she saw me her eyes softened though. "Sonny! You're awake!" Immediately her wing flew to my forehead, "Your fever broke too. Thank goodness."

"Mom, where's Nico?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know sweetheart. All I remember from last night was Josie bursting into my hollow at all hours of the night, saying you had feinted and wouldn't wake up. Then flying to The Branch, and flying you back here. I haven't seen Nico at all."

Icy cold fear stabbed at my heart. "What about Pedro?" It was like my worst fears were coming true as my mother shook her head. Without thinking I took off out the door, nearly falling out of the sky as my head started spinning again. I steered to the west, and towards Ralphy and Eva's nest.

Soon enough I came to their clearing and shot up to their nest. "RALPHY!" I nearly screamed as I landed on their platform nest.

"What in the love of feathers?" He yawned and sat up, waking up Eva, who was snuggled up next to him in their little nest.

"Have you seen Nico or Pedro, anywhere?" I demanded, on the edge of a panic attack.

"Wait, you haven't seen them?" He asked.

"NO! I think I was drugged last night, because mom said that I passed out and hadn't woken up until now. Nico wasn't in Canary Corner, and neither was Pedro."

"I haven't seen them since last night…" the toucan said quietly.

"I saw them last night," Eva piped up, and I shot my gaze to her, "They went outside with the drink girl. I remember Nico saying something about not feeling well…Maybe he was drugged too?" She suggested. My eyes got as big around as saucers.

"So they're gone…" I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Tears rolled down my cheeks, and I fell to my knees unable to hold it in any longer. "My boys are just gone?"

* * *

><p><strong>Ok ok. Please don't kill me! We all knew there was going to have to be a bit of a clifhanger in this story didn't we? Oh... we didn't? Well, my bad for not telling you! :) I hope you enjoyed this story, as I know I did, and I hope you don't kill me...just go on and read the next story (<span>Remember Rio<span>) to find your answers. I'd like to hear what you thought of this whole masterpiece, so please leave me a review to let me know what you think! Love and hugs ~PraiarieRose1017**


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